Boston Broker Fee Law: Effective Date, Exceptions, and Penalties

Under the Boston broker fee law that took effect August 1, 2025, the person who hires the broker is the person who pays the broker. If a landlord engages a broker to fill a vacancy, the landlord owes the fee. A tenant only pays if the tenant independently hired a broker to represent them in the search.¹

What Changed on August 1, 2025

For years, Boston tenants routinely handed over a full month’s rent to a broker they had never hired, sometimes on an apartment they had found themselves. The new Massachusetts rule ends that default. A landlord cannot require a tenant to pay the landlord’s broker as a condition of signing a lease.¹

The financial impact is significant. With average Boston rents running around $3,580 per month as of mid-2026, the traditional one-month broker fee alone could exceed what many renters have in savings. Removing it from the tenant’s side of the ledger cuts move-in costs by roughly a full month of rent.

When You Still Owe a Broker Fee

The law does not eliminate broker fees. If you decide on your own to hire a broker to help you find an apartment, you pay that broker. Three conditions have to be present: you affirmatively chose to engage the broker, the broker works on your behalf in dealings with landlords, and you signed a written fee disclosure before any services began.²

A broker who advertises services to you is not a broker you hired. A broker a landlord steers you toward is not a broker you hired. The tenant-pays scenario only kicks in when you actually engaged someone to represent your interests.²

Where a tenant does hire their own broker, the fee has traditionally been one month’s rent, though the amount is whatever the written agreement says. On a $3,500 unit, that is $3,500 in brokerage costs. With more Boston listings now effectively no-fee from the tenant’s perspective, a tenant-side broker competing for your business may agree to less than a full month.

Workarounds Landlords Cannot Use

Massachusetts has been explicit that renaming or repackaging the fee does not make it legal. Prohibited practices include:

Charging an admin fee, selection fee, finder’s fee, leasing fee, or any similarly named charge designed to shift brokerage costs to the tenant.
Inflating the first or last month’s rent to reimburse a broker’s fee.
Adding a broker fee to the monthly rent as a recurring surcharge.
Requiring you to hire the landlord’s preferred broker before viewing an apartment.
Making payment of a broker fee a prerequisite to signing the lease.

If a landlord or their agent tries any of these, the tenant has legal recourse.²

Penalties If You Are Charged Illegally

A landlord who illegally charges a tenant for a broker fee is subject to a penalty of up to three times the amount charged, plus the tenant’s attorney’s fees. Tenants can also bring claims under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, Chapter 93A, which provides for triple damages on illegal fees along with attorney’s fees and court costs.²

Brokers and salespersons who violate the law face fines or license revocation by the Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons.² If you believe you were charged improperly, a complaint under Chapter 93A to the Attorney General’s office is the most direct path to recovery.

What a Landlord Can Legally Collect at Move-In

Even with the broker fee off the table for most tenants, moving in still takes cash. Massachusetts caps what a landlord or their agent can collect at or before the start of a tenancy to four items:

First month’s rent.
Last month’s rent, at the same rate as the first month.
A security deposit of no more than one month’s rent, held in a separate interest-bearing Massachusetts bank account.
The actual purchase and installation cost for keys and locks.

Anything else is a violation.³

On a $3,500 apartment, first month, last month, and security deposit come to $10,500 before the lock change. Under the old system, a broker fee would have pushed that closer to $14,000.

The security deposit carries its own protections. The landlord must give you a receipt within 30 days showing the bank name, account number, and deposit amount. After holding the deposit for a year or more, the landlord owes you 5% annual interest or whatever lesser rate the bank pays. If the landlord fails to follow these requirements, you are entitled to immediate return of the full deposit.³

Verify the License and Get the Disclosure

Only a licensed real estate broker or salesperson can legally charge a fee for finding rental housing in Massachusetts. An unlicensed property manager, assistant, or building superintendent cannot collect a brokerage commission no matter what services they provided.⁴ This protection predates the 2025 change and still applies.

Any broker or salesperson who intends to charge you a fee must give you a written disclosure at your first in-person meeting. The notice must state that you will be charged, the exact dollar amount, when and how it is due, and whether any portion is owed if a tenancy never begins. Both parties sign and date the form, and the broker must include their license number. If you refuse to sign, the broker records your name and refusal on the form and keeps it for three years.⁵

A broker who skips the disclosure weakens their ability to enforce the fee, and the absence of a signed form can support a legal challenge if you are charged improperly.

Practical Steps Before You Sign

Ask directly who hired the broker. If a broker contacts you about a listing, or a landlord refers you to one, the question that decides who pays is whether the landlord or the tenant engaged that broker’s services. If the landlord did, you owe nothing.²

If someone tells you a fee is required before you can tour the unit, or that signing a fee agreement is a condition of getting the lease, that is a prohibited practice. Walk away and document it. The penalty structure gives you real leverage if the landlord or broker persists.

If you do want your own broker, negotiate the fee in writing before any work starts. The amount is set by your agreement, not by law, and market conditions may support a lower number than the traditional one-month benchmark.

Budget for roughly three months of rent at move-in even without a broker fee. First month, last month, and security deposit still stack up. On a $3,500 apartment, that is $10,500 in cash before you receive the keys. Some landlords do not collect last month’s rent upfront, but plan for the maximum so you are not short at signing.

1
City of Boston. Broker Fees: What To Know About The New Law
2
Mass.gov. Frequently Asked Questions About Residential Rental Brokers Fees
3
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 186 Section 15B
4
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 112 Section 87DDD 1-2
5
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 254 CMR 7.00 – Apartment Rentals