The FARE Act and Voucher Broker Fees: What NYC Brokers Can Still Collect

Since June 11, 2025, a broker who represents the landlord cannot charge the tenant a fee in New York City. That rule applies to voucher tenants exactly as it applies to everyone else. If you listed the unit, you can't collect a dime from the Section 8 or CityFHEPS tenant who rents it.

What the FARE Act doesn't address is money the city pays. HRA pays brokers up to 15% of the annual rent on CityFHEPS and shelter-exit FHEPS placements, and NYCHA runs its own broker fee program for some new Section 8 voucher holders. Neither the law nor the city's FAQ mentions those payments, and as of September 2026 HRA has not published guidance on whether a landlord-side broker can still take the city's fee. HRA's forms still request it the same way they did before the law.

So: never charge the voucher tenant, disclose every fee in writing, and get the city fee question answered for your deal before you count on the check.

Last checked: September 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

What the FARE Act Actually Says

The law is Local Law 119 of 2024, enforced by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP). According to DCWP's FAQ:

• "The Law prohibits a landlord's agent from charging fees to prospective tenants. This includes listing agents."
• There is "a rebuttable presumption that an agent who publishes a listing for the rental of an apartment does so with the permission or authorization of the landlord." If you advertised it, you are presumed to be the landlord's agent.
• The landlord is liable too when its agent or a listing agent charges the tenant.
• No one can make renting an apartment conditional on the tenant hiring a broker, including a dual agent.
• Every listing must disclose all fees the tenant must pay, and before the lease is signed the tenant must sign an itemized written disclosure of those fees. The landlord or agent keeps it for three years.

What the law leaves alone: tenants "choosing to hire their own broker and pay broker fees," and tenant-side brokers advertising their services, as long as they don't make specific units available only to people who hire them.

Violations go to a DCWP summons and a hearing at OATH, with civil penalties and possible restitution to the tenant. Tenants can also sue in civil court. The Real Deal reported in June 2026 that DCWP had received more than 2,000 complaints and inquiries in the law's first year and issued 74 summonses.

What It Means for Each Voucher Program

The last-but-one row is where FARE bites hardest. A Section 8 tenant who isn't in a city fee program used to pay a listing agent's fee out of pocket, if they could. That is now illegal. If you want to be paid on those deals, the landlord pays you or the tenant hires you as their own broker.

The Open Question: Can a Landlord's Broker Take the City's Fee?

Here is what we know as of September 2026.

HRA's paperwork hasn't changed. The CityFHEPS Landlord Package (DSS-8f), revised April 1, 2026, still has the landlord certify that "the premises cannot be rented without the services of" the named broker, and still collects the broker's name, license number and agency. The HRA-121 broker fee request still says the tenant "is not responsible for any monies in excess of the amount issued by HRA, which is up to 15% of the annual rent." Neither form mentions FARE.

HRA hasn't answered publicly. City Limits reported in June 2025 that the city did not respond when asked whether it would keep contributing to broker fees on CityFHEPS leases after FARE. We have not found a later HRA statement.

The fee may shrink anyway. HRA told the City Council in June 2026 that broker fees would be "significantly less than in the past," and The Real Deal reported a planned cap of one month's rent. See does CityFHEPS pay a broker fee for where that stands.

The argument on each side. The city's fee is paid by HRA "on behalf of" the tenant, not collected from the tenant, which is the reading under which HRA keeps processing it. The other reading is that a fee paid for the tenant's benefit is still a fee imposed in connection with the tenant's rental, and a landlord's agent can't take it. DCWP's FAQ doesn't resolve this. Until an agency does, a landlord-side broker taking the HRA fee is relying on an untested reading.

The Clean Way to Work Voucher Deals Now

Represent the tenant. FARE expressly allows a tenant to hire their own broker. If the voucher holder engages you in writing before you show them anything, you are the tenant's agent, and the city fee is being paid on behalf of your own client. That is the structure least exposed to a FARE challenge. Get the engagement signed and dated, and keep it.

Or get paid by the landlord. If you're the listing agent, your fee comes from the landlord. A CityFHEPS lease doesn't change that, and HRA's upfront rent (first month in full plus three months of supplement) makes the landlord's cash flow better than on a market lease.

Never touch the tenant's money. Under both FARE and HRA's rules, you can't ask a voucher tenant for a fee. HRA's client FAQ tells CityFHEPS tenants that "Brokers should not ask you to pay any additional broker fees because DSS is paying your broker's fee," and on the HRA-121 you certify you asked for nothing beyond an application fee charged to all applicants.

Disclose. The itemized fee disclosure is required on every rental, voucher or not. Make it part of the packet, have the tenant sign it before the lease, and keep it three years.

Don't gate listings. "Voucher tenants must use our office" is a FARE violation (conditioning a rental on hiring a broker) and can also be source-of-income discrimination. See can a landlord refuse Section 8 in NYC for how the Commission on Human Rights reads steering.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a voucher tenant choose to pay me a fee?

FARE allows a tenant to hire and pay their own broker. CityFHEPS is different: the HRA check "represents the entire broker's fee," and HRA's rules prohibit side payments. On a CityFHEPS or FHEPS deal, take the HRA fee or nothing from the tenant.

Does FARE apply to rooms and SROs?

The law covers the rental of residential property, and the DCWP FAQ doesn't carve out rooms. Treat a room placement the same way.

What if the tenant signed with me before June 11, 2025?

DCWP says the ban "may not apply to a contractual obligation for a tenant to pay a fee for a broker's services that arose before June 11, 2025, depending on the particular circumstances." That window is long past for new deals.

Where do tenants report a FARE violation?

To DCWP through 311. Source-of-income discrimination goes to the Commission on Human Rights at 212-416-0197, the number HRA gives CityFHEPS tenants.

If you represent voucher holders, VoucherMatch for brokers is built for the tenant-side model: client records, shopping letters and a marketplace where every landlord has already agreed to take vouchers.