NYC Broker Fee: Who Pays It
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In New York City, a broker fee depends on the deal. On a rental, the FARE Act has barred the landlord’s broker from charging you since June 11, 2025, so most renters now pay nothing. On a sale, the seller pays both brokers out of the price, usually 5% to 6% in total, and every rate is negotiable.
We’ve represented New York buyers and renters since 2017. We’ve handed back more than $11 million in commission rebates, about $22,000 a closing. The broker fee is a number we watch on both sides of every deal.
The useful question isn’t what the fee “usually” is. It’s who hired the broker. In New York, that answer decides who pays.
| The deal | Who the broker works for | Who pays, in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Rental, you answered a listing | The landlord | The landlord. Charging you is illegal under the FARE Act. |
| Rental, you hired your own agent | You | You, at a rate you agreed in writing first |
| Purchase, resale | The seller lists; a buyer’s broker co-brokes | The seller, out of the sale price, on most deals |
| Purchase, new development | The sponsor | The sponsor lists; the buyer often absorbs transfer taxes and the sponsor’s attorney fee |
“Usually” is carrying weight in that table. Your lease, your buyer agreement, your building’s rules and your lender’s underwriter all get a vote first.
Who pays the broker on a NYC rental
Since June 11, 2025, a landlord’s broker cannot charge you a fee to rent an apartment in New York City. That is the FARE Act, Local Law 119 of 2024. It shifted the bill to whoever hired the broker. If you answered a listing, that is the landlord.
For decades the norm was a fee of one month’s rent up to 15% of the year’s rent. You paid it to a broker you never met, for an apartment you found yourself. The law now presumes that whoever posts a listing does it with the landlord’s blessing. That presumption is what makes the ban enforceable.
You can still hire your own agent and agree to pay them. Background and credit-check fees are capped separately at $20. If a broker is still trying to bill you, our guide to no-fee apartments in NYC covers the bait-and-switch and how to file a complaint with the city.
Does the seller pay the buyer’s agent in NYC
On a resale, yes, on most deals. The seller signs a listing agreement. The listing broker shares the property through REBNY’s system, and a buyer’s broker co-brokes the deal. The seller pays that buyer’s broker at closing.
Since the 2024 NAR settlement and REBNY’s own rule changes, the offer no longer travels through the listing service. So the money still moves, it just takes a more polite route: the seller offers it directly, in writing. If the seller offers nothing, the buyer’s broker can negotiate a fee from the buyer instead.
Our explainer on who pays the buyer’s agent commission walks through each case. And the ways a buyer’s broker gets paid covers direct payment, a seller credit and a co-broke split.
How much is the real estate commission in NYC
The customary total on a NYC sale is 5% to 6% of the price. It is split about evenly between the listing side and the buyer’s side. It is the rate that survived the fax machine, the internet and a $1.8 billion jury. Our post on why real estate fees stay so high tries to answer that puzzle, with the Federal Reserve’s own numbers.
The 2024 NAR settlement was supposed to move the rate. It ended the practice of advertising buyer-agent pay in the listing service, and it required a written buyer agreement before a tour. A year on, the Federal Reserve found advertised rates barely moved. What changed is that the number’s now a line you negotiate, not a default you inherit.
Are broker fees and commissions negotiable
Every commission in New York is negotiable, and the state says so in its own license law. Rates are not set by law. The word standard does a lot of unpaid work in that sentence when an agent uses it.
New York goes further than most states. Real Property Law section 442 lets a broker hand any part of its commission back to the buyer, seller or tenant. That is the legal basis for a commission rebate. The IRS treats that rebate as a cut in the purchase price, not taxable income, in a 2007 private ruling.
See how a real estate agent rebate reaches you at closing. Read what it looks like buying in New Jersey, and where a rebate fits among the other ways to save money buying a house. If you want representation plus a disclosed rebate, here is what NestApple returns to buyers.
The paperwork that decides who pays
Who pays your broker is settled in documents most people sign without reading, until it is the only thing anyone will talk about. Since January 2025, a REBNY member has to sign a written buyer agency agreement with you before showing you anything. That agreement states your agent’s fee and where it comes from.
You can also buy without an agent. Our guide to buying a home without a realtor covers what that saves, what it does not, and why New York still needs a real estate attorney on the file. And when a seller lists on their own, a buyer’s agent gets them to sign a one-time showing agreement, so the fee is covered on a property that was never listed.
When one agent sits on both sides of the table
New York allows one broker to represent the buyer and the seller in the same deal. It requires both parties’ informed written consent, because a dual agent gives up the right to negotiate for either side. Nicole’s own view, as a lawyer who does not practice: it is like asking your spouse’s lawyer to also handle your side of the divorce.
Most NYC deals instead run as a co-broke between two firms. They coordinate through REBNY’s Residential Listing Service. The RLS is not a Realtor MLS, and its rules on how brokers get paid have changed six times since October 2023.
What we see on our own closings
The company started with a fourth apartment. Georges had bought three at full price. Then he asked Nicole, a practicing attorney at the time and allowed to earn a commission, to place the offer on the fourth. The offer was accepted while they were at the airport.
She rebated the whole commission to the next few buyers who asked. She got a Macy’s gift card and a brunch invitation in return. That turned into a business plan.
The arithmetic Georges uses is blunt. On a $1 million deal at 3% to the buyer’s side, “from those 30k we keep 10, we give back 20.” That’s the roughly $22,000 average, more than $11 million since 2017. It isn’t a discount off a service. It’s a share of a commission the market has kept high, handed to the person who did the searching.
Our closing-cost calculators let you run a real deal with the rebate in it.
Start with who hired whom
Whether you are renting or buying, the first question is who the broker works for. In New York, that decides who pays. Everything after that is arithmetic: the rate, the split, the credit, the rebate.
If you want a broker on your side and a rebate you can see on the closing statement, see what NestApple returns to buyers and price your own deal first.
Common questions
Do you have to pay a broker fee to rent in NYC? Not if you answered a listing. Since June 11, 2025 the FARE Act bars the landlord’s broker from charging you. You only owe a fee if you hired your own agent and agreed to it in writing.
Who pays the buyer’s agent when you buy a home in NYC? On most resales the seller pays, out of the sale price, as a co-broke. The offer now comes from the seller directly rather than through the listing service. If the seller offers nothing, the buyer and their agent negotiate the fee.
Is a 6% commission required in New York? No. Commission rates are not set by law and are fully negotiable. Six percent is a custom, not a rule, and New York also permits brokers to rebate part of the commission to the buyer.
Are commission rebates legal in New York? Yes. Real Property Law section 442 expressly allows a broker to give part of its fee to the buyer, seller or tenant, and the IRS treats a buyer rebate as a purchase-price adjustment rather than income.
Nicole Fishman Benoliel co-founded NestApple in 2017. She's a lawyer admitted to the New York bar - her law degree is from La Escuela Libre de Derecho in Costa Rica, with further study at IE Business School in Madrid and an LLM from Fordham in New York. She does not act in a legal capacity at NestApple; every client is referred to an attorney who handles real estate deals full time.
