Gov. Maura Healey thinks fees paid to real estate brokers should be a thing of the past, voicing support for a policy idea that has support in Massachusetts' Senate.
"I think they should be abolished. I think they should go away," the governor said on GBH Radio after a listener emailed the show to promote the idea of eliminating the fees some renters have to pay to brokers when signing a lease. "I totally support that, and support taking action to make that happen. You know, this is one of the things when it comes to affordability. We're an expensive state, right?"
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Many renters have to pay four months worth of rent up front when signing a lease -- rent for the first and last months of the lease term, one month's rent as a security deposit and one month's rent as a fee to the broker who coordinated the transaction. The fees contribute to the state's high costs of housing.
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.
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Senate President Karen Spilka last week reiterated her support for shifting the burden of broker's fees from renters onto the party who contracted with the real estate broker, typically a building's landlord.
"It's an important consumer protection and making housing more affordable for our residents here," Spilka said.
Co-host Margery Eagan asked Healey on Tuesday whether landlords should be the ones paying broker's fees.
"The landlord pay? You know, the landlord can make their own arrangements," Healey said.
The governor told co-host Jim Braude that she thinks it's realistic that the Legislature could go against the real estate industry interests that support the broker's fees status quo. She pointed out that she "heard leadership announce support just the other day."
"Anybody who's out there listening to constituents knows that this is a real issue for people, affordability, right? That's a real issue for a lot of people," Healey said. "And I just look at it as this is an easy way to at least address an aspect of that."
Rep. Tackey Chan said Monday that he had filed legislation that "clarifies it is the responsibility of the party, whether that is the landlord or the renter, who initially entered into the contract to pay the fee" to a broker. Chan said his bill would guarantee that realtors get paid for their work, but ensures that the cost cannot be passed on to a non-contracting party.
"We are the last state in the nation to allow this problematic practice," Chan said.
