Like all stories about FARE Act violations, a Metropolis Reporter article Thursday centered completely on what rental brokers did mistaken.
I get it. Journalists cowl crashes, not landings. However generally the landings are the information.
That’s actually true for industrial airways. Their crash charge has been diminished to primarily zero, an amazing achievement given the frequency of tragedies through the business’s first few a long time and the massive variety of flights in the present day.
Rental brokers in New York Metropolis have the same story to inform. Higher, really.
From the very outset of the FARE Act, which radically modified the best way brokers had operated for many years, solely a tiny fraction of tenant-broker interactions had been flagged by tenants as problematic. And solely a tiny fraction of that tiny fraction resulted in fines.
Even through the pro-tenant Mamdani administration with its beefed-up consumer protection agency, and a rental market that more and more resembles the Starvation Video games, the variety of FARE Act complaints and inquiries retains taking place — and only one of each 45 has led to a superb.
But the Metropolis Reporter headline blared: “NYC Broker Fees Are Banned but Not Gone as City Ramps Up Enforcement: In a 12 months and a half, officers issued $60,000 in penalties towards folks violating the FARE Act.”
That’s lower than 3 cents for each condominium within the metropolis. The article stated $24,000 has been recovered for tenants, however omitted the context: That’s only one cent per rental unit. The U.S. doesn’t even mint pennies anymore.
There are seven occasions as many murders as FARE Act fines. Information protection rightfully celebrates that homicides are at a record low. I haven’t seen any headlines that say, “Homicides Banned However Not Gone: 309 killed in NYC final 12 months.” However that’s how dealer fines are lined.
The town is amassing a paltry $115 a day in FARE Act fines, the identical quantity it will get from one double-parking ticket. In a metropolis of two.3 million rental models, the place vacancies typically set off a frenzy of condominium seekers, compliance has been stunningly excessive.
New Yorkers are usually not recognized for following guidelines. A pink gentle is a imprecise idea to pedestrians. Ten p.c of subway riders and 44 p.c of bus riders don’t pay the fare. Drivers within the metropolis rack up 45,300 parking and digicam violations per day.
But the Metropolis Reporter highlighted 55 FARE Act fines between June 2025 and mid-October 2026, which isn’t even one per week. The story did say within the eighth paragraph that complaints have fallen lately, however omitted that they had been extremely uncommon within the first place.
It could be naive to suppose that every one violations are reported. Most likely many are usually not, particularly when the tenant who’s illegally requested to pay a dealer will get the condominium. In the event you badly need to see a Taylor Swift live performance, and a scalper sells you front-row seats, you’re not going to show him in.
However the overwhelming majority of people that inquire about an condominium don’t get it, and but only a few accuse the dealer of violating the FARE Act.
I’m not saying journalists shouldn’t write about violations. The Real Deal actually does. That’s how brokers and renters find out how the regulation works.
However a characteristic about airplane crashes will all the time observe that industrial airways are the most secure option to journey. That context is inevitably lacking from tales in regards to the FARE Act.
Rental brokers aren’t getting any credit score from the media or the mayor’s workplace. These modestly paid New Yorkers are navigating an intensely aggressive airspace with frenetic clients and constantly touchdown the airplane.
What we’re occupied with: Sam Levine, the mayor’s client safety commissioner, needs the state to ban condominium brokers from representing each the tenant and the owner as a result of, he stated, homeowners and renters have “utterly misaligned pursuits and are on reverse sides of a transaction.”
However tenants’ and landlords’ pursuits are usually not utterly misaligned. I might say they’re extra aligned than not: Landlords need to fill a unit and tenants need to lease a unit. The dealer helps them come to phrases and solely will get paid in the event that they do.
Learn extra
How NYC’s ban on broker fees sent rentals into “convoluted, questionable” territory
The Daily Dirt: FARE Act returns just $7 per complaint to consumers
Court rejects REBNY’s FARE Act appeal
