For its next fit of genius, the City Council is poised to outlaw charging an incoming tenant the broker’s fee for landing an apartment, as if it were that simple.
The pretense is that landlords or other agencies will just suck up the cost; in practice, it’s sure to be just another blow to the city’s already-struggling housing market.
For units that aren’t rent-controlled, the landlord will most likely just up the rent to compensate; for those that are, many will find a way to charge it under some other name.
Expect a vibrant black market to develop, too: Finding a place is tough, and people will pay for help no matter what the law says.
And an ever-growing share of city landlords are already under water on their buildings; those who do eat the fee will have even less for basic maintenance and will be even more willing to sell to some shady character willing to build an unethical slumlord business.
Others will find ways to exit the rental market completely, further reducing the number of available units.
Expect a whole host of grim, unexpected consequences: That’s what you get when you outlaw any free-market process.
Of course, the bill’s prime author, Councilman Chi Ossé (D-B’klyn) doesn’t care: A child of wealth and privilege, he has no idea how the world works; he just knows what wins cheers from fellow lefties.
And his 33 co-sponsors will happily wallow in their supposed good work, and move on to making something else “free” without caring about who actually winds up paying the cost.
Mayor Eric Adams and council Speaker Adrienne Adams have been skeptical of the idea — but the speaker has shown little backbone when comes to standing up the socialists in her caucus, and the mayor has a lot on his plate just now.
Insane over-regulation (and not just the rent laws) is why the city’s housing market is already such a mess: Every new rule adds hidden costs that gum up the works somehow, and also encourage anyone looking to make an honest profit to just go somewhere else.
Apartment-seekers balking at paying broker fees can look for no-fee rentals, which do exist in a free market — even if Ossé & Co. are bent on stifling every free market they can.
If Speaker Adams were to set aside her ambitions for higher office, she’d toss the brokers-fee-ban bill in the council’s trash bin.
Actually, she might even help her career, long-term: A wave is building against the socialists now warring on everything that makes New York City work; the race is on as to whether it can wash them out before they turn Gotham into a new Detroit.