FARE Act Rules for NYC Landlords

You can’t pass your broker’s fee to the tenant. Since June 11, 2025, New York City’s FARE Act bars a broker who works for the landlord, including any agent who lists the apartment with your permission, from charging the tenant a fee, so if you hire the broker, you pay the broker. You must also disclose every fee a tenant has to pay, in the listing and in a signed, itemized form before the lease is signed.

The law is Local Law 119 of 2024, now Subchapter 15 of Chapter 4, Title 20 of the NYC Administrative Code. The NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) enforces it. Here is what it means for owners, managing agents and listing brokers.

Who counts as a “landlord” and a “landlord’s agent”

The definitions in §20-699.20 are broad, and they decide who can and cannot charge a tenant:

• Landlord includes any owner who lists a unit for lease with an agent, whether or not a lease results, or who receives an offer to rent it. It covers individual condo and co-op unit owners renting out their apartments, because the law’s definition of residential real property includes units in condominium and cooperative buildings. The only carve-out is a co-op corporation leasing to its own shareholder.
• Landlord’s agent means a listing agent, or any agent cooperating with the listing agent, acting as a subagent or as a broker’s agent to find a tenant. It does not include a dual agent.
• Listing agent is an agent who has signed a listing agreement to act for the landlord for compensation.
• Tenant’s agent is an agent who agrees to find housing for a tenant and negotiates on the tenant’s behalf.

Before and after: common fee scenarios

The comparison below shows who could be asked to pay under the old practice and who pays now. “Before” describes the practice the law was written to stop; DCWP notes that a contractual obligation to pay a broker that arose before June 11, 2025 may not be covered, depending on the circumstances.

What you must disclose

1. 1

   In every listing

   Disclose clearly and conspicuously any fee the prospective tenant must pay to rent the unit, and never state a broker fee that would be illegal (§20-699.21(d), §20-699.22(a)).
2. 2

   Before the lease is signed

   Give the tenant an itemized written disclosure of every fee they must pay to you or to anyone at your direction, with a short description of each fee.
3. 3

   Get it signed first

   The tenant signs the itemized disclosure before signing the lease. Give them a copy.
4. 4

   Keep it for 3 years

   You or your agent must retain the signed disclosure for three years (§20-699.22(b)).

What can still be on that disclosure? The first month’s rent and a security deposit of no more than one month’s rent (see security deposit rules for landlords), plus a background and credit check fee under Real Property Law §238-a. That fee is capped at the lesser of the actual cost or $20, must be waived if the applicant provides a check done in the past 30 days, and can be collected only if you give the applicant a copy of the report and the receipt or invoice. Use the application fee checker to test your fee.

Penalties and enforcement

DCWP issues a summons, and the respondent can contest it at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH). If the charges are sustained, DCWP can seek civil penalties and restitution of any illegal fees. DCWP’s penalty schedule is in 6 RCNY §6-89. Separately, any person can sue in court for compensatory, injunctive and declaratory relief (§20-699.24). Tenants file complaints with DCWP online, and DCWP asks them to include texts, screenshots, receipts and the broker’s name.

A compliance routine for owners and managers

1. Review listing agreements: make clear that your broker is paid by you and may not charge applicants.
2. Tell every co-broker and every agent who advertises your units, in writing, that tenant-paid fees are not allowed.
3. Audit live listings (including syndicated ones) for fee language and missing fee disclosures.
4. Create a standard itemized fee disclosure form, have it signed before every lease, and file it for three years.
5. Remove any requirement that applicants work with a particular agent or a dual agent.
6. Budget the broker’s commission as an owner cost when you set asking rents and incentives.

Local Law 119 does not regulate the rent amount itself. For rent-stabilized units, the legal regulated rent and RGB orders still control what you can charge; see the 2026 rent freeze for landlords.