Real estate agent marketing in New York after the FARE Act

Since 11 June 2025 the party that hires a New York rental broker pays that broker, so agents now grow by winning owners and sellers, not by collecting tenant fees.

Book a strategy callA brokerage case study

The FARE Act moved rental commissions off renters and onto whoever engages the broker. Firms that lived on tenant fees need a sharper pitch to landlords and a sales pipeline that does not hinge on rentals. We build that pitch, the agent brands behind it and the search presence, working from our Chicago base. Related: social media and SEO.

Book a strategy callA brokerage case study
FARE Act disclosures built inAgent personal brandsOwner-facing campaignsSocial from $3,500 a month

Written for New York brokers, team leads and agents by TERAMOK. Law text rechecked 3 October 2026.

Villa with trees against a blue sky, Loyal Group Realty listing photographed by TERAMOK

Rental brokerage in New York, before and after June 2025

Based on the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection guidance as of October 2026. The law took effect on 11 June 2025.

Before the FARE Act

  • Renters commonly paid the commission even when the landlord had engaged the agent
  • Ads did not have to spell out what the renter would owe
  • Agent marketing chased renters scrolling listing sites
  • Brokerage income rose and fell with rental volume

Under the FARE Act

  • Whoever hires the broker pays the broker; a landlord's agent cannot bill the tenant
  • Every rental advertisement must show the fees a tenant has to pay
  • Tenants sign an itemized fee disclosure before the lease, and landlords keep it for three years
  • DCWP enforces through civil penalties and restitution at OATH, and tenants may also sue in civil court
  • The paying customer is the owner, so marketing has to win exclusives

Is your brokerage set up for the post-FARE market?

Check each line that already describes your firm. Points reflect what we think moves owners and sellers to sign; adjust them to your own deal flow.

0

Still set up for the old fee model

Most of your marketing assumes tenants pay. Start with the landlord page and a sales pipeline.

Rewriting your owner pitch? On a 30-minute call we review your listings and website against the FARE Act disclosure rules and your landlord story.

Book a call
Kirill Samarits, Founder and CEO of TERAMOK
Kirill SamaritsFounder and CEO

Landlords are the client now, so talk to them

When the renter stopped paying, the owner became the customer. Most agent websites I review in New York still speak only to renters, and that is the opening.

Our clearest brokerage result is Loyal Group Realty in Greece: its Instagram audience climbed past 38.7K, up from roughly 3,000 in 2024, and 27 keywords reached Google's first page within 14 months. Consistent video led by the agents themselves did that, not ad spend alone.

We do not have a New York brokerage client yet. For one, I would begin with the owners' page and the personal brands of its five busiest agents.

New York agents and brokers ask

The party that hired the broker. If the landlord or its listing agent engaged the broker, the tenant cannot be charged that fee. The rule has applied since 11 June 2025 and is enforced by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.

Every ad has to disclose the fees a tenant must pay. Before signing, the tenant also receives an itemized written list of all fees, signs it, and the landlord keeps it for three years.

Yes, when the renter is the one who hired that broker. The law follows who engaged the agent, so agents who work for renters should put that engagement in writing at the start.

Shift budget toward owners and sellers. Publish a landlord page that shows what the fee buys, give each agent a page that ranks for their neighborhood, and film every exclusive. The city's 2023 survey put rental vacancy at 1.4%, so owners judge agents on speed and presentation rather than on finding a tenant at all.

They matter if your firm participates in an MLS that adopted the NAR settlement. Since 17 August 2024, those MLS participants need a written agreement with a buyer before touring and cannot post compensation offers on the MLS. Check your own MLS's rules.

Our social retainer opens at $3,500 per month; search, $3,000 per month; paid media management, $3,500 per month. Brand identity projects range from $25,000 up to $60,000. Your brokerage holds the ad accounts. See pricing.

Sources

  1. NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, FARE Act broker fee FAQ
  2. NYC HPD, 2023 Housing and Vacancy Survey initial findings, 8 February 2024
  3. National Association of Realtors, settlement practice changes FAQ

Build the owner pitch your brokerage now needs

Send your website and three current listings. We will show where the FARE Act changed what your marketing has to say.

Book a FARE Act review

+1 (312) 838-1826 · info@teramok.us