Avoiding Apartment Fees

Before anything else, an individual renting an apartment needs to understand exactly what a fee apartment is. When a broker assists a client in locating a new apartment, the broker must be compensated for the work they performed, so the broker in turn charges their client a fee. Usually, the fee is 15% of one year’s rent. However, in most markets within the United States, this 15% fee does not exist. For the broker to receive compensation, they are usually paid by the apartment in question’s owner, since the broker located them a qualified tenant.

Many opinions have been formed over this process, however. Sometimes it is reasonable to charge something, due to time constraints, etc., but sometimes brokers are able to locate apartments for tenants in a mere 10 minutes, but they still receive the 15% fee. So in simple terms, the broker would receive, say, $3,000 for 10 minutes worth of work and research. This has caused quite an uproar with certain people who feel it as being extremely unfair.

For the individual in search of an apartment, there are two methods for avoiding fees. The most common way to avoid fees is to rent an apartment directly through the property owner. If owners offer brokers an owner payment for the apartment that is leased out to a tenant, the broker is compensated with the owner payment, therefore eliminating the need for the broker to charge a fee.

The owner of the apartment offering the owner payment to the broker allows the broker to advertise the apartment as a “no fee” apartment, therefore attracting many more potential tenants, even though the tenant doesn’t necessarily receive a better deal.

As a whole, the mass majority of potential tenants will more than likely be more interested in an apartment with no fees as opposed to one that has fees.