Submitted by subaruforesters t3_126o73z in boston
My friend is moving out of his apartment at the end of his lease, and my partner and I are talking to his landlord about moving in. She's asking for the full broker fee which just seems weird to me- the apartment wasn't listed anywhere, if anyone acted as a broker here, it was my friend. Who am I paying a broker fee to? Is this normal?
Probably illegal.
Not a lot you can do about it if you want the apartment.
Nothing you can do about it if you want the landlord to suffer consequences.
Just tell them your accountant is a real paper-pusher, so you need their real estate license number to provide them. They might not even have one (which I believe is required to charge a broker's fee). If they do have one, complain to the AG's office
Yeah this is complete tomfoolery. Kind of a red flag from the landlord - if they're looking to screw OP this way, what else can they expect down the road? Probably not much, but worth considering.
My friend has lived there for many years and has had a great experience with her, part of why we wanted to move in. So it's very weird that this is coming up, and I'm not sure how worried I should be
The owner figures they can get a few extra bucks so no harm in asking for it. Even though it’s technically illegal (unless he has a license).
It’s absolute bs. But with the way things are lately, if OP pushes back, the landlord can just shrug, list the apartment, and find someone else to live there that won’t blink at paying it. It’s absurd.
Is it to them, or to a separate broker? It could be that they have an exclusive agreement with a broker, so that even if they didn't help with a particular tenant they're required to pay. I don't think there's anything wrong with asking this question to the landlord.
The broker would be the one to request the fee. Maybe they are just confused?
We were in this situation. We ended up having to pay half the broker fee because the broker is the one typically running background and credit checks. We settled on half because they never listed it so they conceded that piece of the fee.
I mean if she's been good to your friend for years, then that's probably a pretty good sign. Trying to squeeze you for a broker's fee in a possibly illegal manner is just fucking weird though.
A few thousand extra bucks
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Some landlords hire people to handle all of the paperwork and bookkeeping for the their units. If your friends are moving in then they still will get charged for credit and background checks done by someone who isn’t the landlord. It’s definitely overpriced but the tenants are responsible for covering that cost.
-CalicoKitty- t1_je9yorr wrote
Sounds like BS to me. Landlords can't charge a broker fee unless they are actually a broker. Even if they are a broker, this situation shouldn't call for a fee. I would push back on that. You should only be paying first, last, and security.