END FORCED BROKERS FEES IN NYC

Stand up against the landlord lobby and make housing more affordable for renters!

Forcing renters to pay for a broker the landlord hired is completely unfair. Renters already pay a massive upfront cost to live in NYC. This fee makes housing ever more unaffordable.

That’s why Council Member Chi Ossé wrote the FARE (Fairness In Apartment Rental Expenses) Act. It’s a simple fix. If this bill is passed, the hiring party, whether landlord or tenant, would pay brokers fees. Tenants who choose not to hire a broker will never be forced to pay the fee again.

The FARE Act will have its first hearing at the City Council on June 12, and we need your help to stand up for renters and go up against the powerful real estate lobby that is doing everything in their power to kill this bill.

Here are three ways to help:

Send a letter to your City Council Member and voice your support for the FARE Act using the form below.
Join at a rally Council Member Ossé, 11 major unions and dozens of advocacy groups fighting for the FARE Act at in City Hall park on on June 12 at 10AM. Sign up here.
Share your story about the high cost of brokers fees by submitting or reading testimony at the Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection hearing on June 12 at 10AM. Sign up here.

For more details on why we need the FARE Act, check out this op-ed from Bradley Tusk in the NY Daily News.

Thank you for fighting for a more affordable city.

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Dear [recipient position will go here] [recipient name will go here],

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Forcing renters to pay brokers fees is completely unfair. It creates a massive upfront cost to moving, makes housing even more unaffordable, and forces renters to pay someone who they did not hire and have maybe never even met. As a renter and voter in your district, I urge you to support the FARE Act (Int. 360).

Under the current system, renters are required to pony up thousands of dollars in brokers fees on top of their initial rent and security deposit. This makes moving nearly impossible for working-class New Yorkers. Think of the family who can’t move to a larger apartment and have another child. The city worker whose lease is up, is required to live in the five boroughs, but may leave over high housing costs. The artist who wants to follow their dream and finally move to the Big Apple. Brokers fees mean fewer apartments are available for rent, leading rents to soar even higher.

The FARE Act still allows brokers to be paid. Like nearly every other city in America, landlords would pay the brokers they hire to show their own apartments. Renters can hire and pay their own broker to help them in the apartment search too.

Please stand up for renters in your district like me, as well as economic transparency and the principle of basic fairness, and help make New York City more affordable. Please support the FARE Act and ensure it is brought up for a vote by the full City Council.

Sincerely,
[your name will go here]
[your email address will go here] [your location will go here]

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