Gov. Maura Healey called for the abolition of broker’s fees renters are often forced to pay when signing a lease agreement, as the Boston City Council is set to reintroduce legislation that would shift that responsibility away from tenants.

Healey, on GBH’s Boston Public Radio Tuesday, said she supported doing away with broker’s fees as a way of improving housing affordability in Massachusetts, where the Legislature is preparing to seek a similar statewide change this term.

“I think they should be abolished,” Healey said. “I think they should go away. I totally support that, and I support taking action to make that happen … When it comes to affordability, we’re an expensive state.”

When asked whether landlords should pay the broker’s fee instead of tenants, however, the governor hedged on answering.

“The landlord can make their own arrangements,” Healey said.

The governor’s remarks come amid a renewed push in Massachusetts to reconsider a system that places the burden of broker’s fees on tenants.

Renters are often saddled with paying the fee, typically equivalent to a month’s pay, to a real estate broker hired by their landlord. That’s on top of being required to pay two or three months rent up front to secure an apartment.

The Senate last year included in its housing bill a policy requiring broker’s fees to be paid by landlords rather than tenants, but House negotiators did not agree to the measure, the State House News Service reported.

Senate President Karen Spilka vowed in her inaugural address last week that the Senate would “try again to shift the burden of broker’s fees from renters.”

In the House, state Rep. Tackey Chan, a Quincy Democrat, told State House News that he had filed legislation that clarifies the party who hired the broker must pay the fee.

On the local level, the Boston City Council on Wednesday is set to reintroduce a home rule petition that would similarly shift the fee to the party, lessor or tenant who hired the broker.

Boston’s push follows last year’s vote by the New York City Council to approve a similar change. Unlike New York, however, the Massachusetts Legislature would need to sign off on a move to bar tenant-paid broker’s fees, if the petition is approved by the Boston City Council.

“Boston remains one of the last major rental markets where prospective tenants are commonly required to pay broker’s fees,” the petition states, while framing the payments as “worsening inequities in a market where renters face limited options.”

Elected officials in Somerville and Cambridge are reportedly considering a similar change.

The local and statewide push drew mixed reactions from industry groups. The Greater Boston Real Estate Board was supportive of the potential change. In a statement, CEO Greg Vasil said, “whoever brings a broker to a real estate transaction should be responsible for paying the broker’s fee.”

Demetrios Salpoglou, CEO of Boston Pads, said, however, that the changes being discussed have the potential to put realtors, who “do a tremendous amount of work,” out of business. If landlords were tasked with paying the fees, he said, they might opt not to work with a broker or pass on the costs to tenants through higher rents.

“I think we’re creating a huge amount of this potential disruption on a system that’s not broken,“ Salpoglou told the Herald. “This whole thing should be driven by business leaders, not the politicians.”

Originally Published: January 7, 2025 at 7:27 PM EST