policy
Gov. Maura Healey said Tuesday that she supports eliminating tenant-paid brokerage fees, which renters are sometimes required to pay when signing a lease along with first and last month's rent and a security deposit. Resistance to the fees is growing on the state and native levels, with Healey's comments only adding momentum.
At a performance by GBHs “Boston Public Radio“Healey was asked by an audience member about brokerage fees and how they could drive more people out of Massachusetts for affordability reasons.
“I think they should be abolished. I think they should go away. I fully support this and support taking action to achieve this,” Healey said.
Brokerage fees are one-off advance payments that typically amount to about one month's rent. Renters within the Boston area often pay the fees to agents they’ve never met and who’ve done minimal work to attach them with their latest apartment and the owner. Although Healey uses the word “abolish,” most efforts currently give attention to simply forcing landlords to pay agent fees, although the owner hires the agent. That appears to be what the governor meant.
“The landlord can make their own arrangements,” Healey said on GBH when asked about this distinction.
Healey repeatedly mentions the state's housing affordability crisis in interviews and tied the difficulty of brokerage fees to a broader defense of her actions in office to drive down prices for residents, similar to a recently expanded child tax credit.
In November, New York City Council coordinated making landlords liable for brokerage fees on most leases, prompting renewed discussion of the difficulty amongst Massachusetts officials.
Boston, one of the expensive rental markets within the country, can also be one among the last major markets where potential renters typically need to pay agent fees. Along with first month's rent, last month's rent and a deposit, tenants often need to give you the equivalent of 4 months' rent upfront to secure an apartment.
Last yr, the state Senate included a policy in a housing policy bill that may require landlords to pay brokerage fees, not tenants. But House negotiators didn't agree, and the policy didn't make it to Healey's desk. State House News Service reported.
Senate President Karen Spilka said during her speech Inaugural speech last week that the Senate “will once again seek to shift the burden of brokerage fees from tenants.”
State Representative Tackey Chan of Quincy said He helped file a bill Monday that states it’s the responsibility of the party, either the owner or the tenant, that hired the agent to pay their fee. Last month, The editorial board published an article arguing that tenants shouldn’t be forced to pay agent fees. Chan, Rep. Paul Schmid of Westport and Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven of Somerville agreed in a follow-up letter to the editor.
“In an already difficult housing market, adding this fee to the upfront rent ends up trapping people in poor housing conditions, preventing turnover in the housing stock, and discouraging low-income families, students, and seniors on fixed incomes from entering the market,” they wrote .
Locally, the Boston City Council will discuss the difficulty on Wednesday afternoon. Council President Ruthzee Louijeune and Councilwoman Liz Breadon filed a house rule petition This would lead to the party liable for engaging the broker also being liable for paying their fee.
Greater Boston's housing shortage allows property owners to pass brokerage fees onto renters, exacerbating inequality in who has access to housing, city councilors wrote. They pointed to studies that found “systemic housing discrimination by real estate agents.” The home rule petition would still should be approved on Beacon Hill if it passes the City Council.
“We’ll look at it all,” Healey said. “I understand that housing costs are high and we must do everything we can to reduce costs.”
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