The City Council overwhelmingly passed a measure to shift the burden of broker fees to landlords. Here’s what that means for renters.

In a City Council hearing on a bill introduced to ban New York’s broker fee structure, Councilmember Chi Ossé described the fee structure as “an exploitative system that exists virtually nowhere else.” In Boston, legislation that would’ve banned the practice failed to advance earlier this year in the Massachusetts State Senate.

Mandatory broker fees, an unusual feature of New York City apartment hunting long reviled by renters, will be banned under legislation that passed Wednesday after overcoming fierce backlash from the city's real estate lobby.