Was back at my old garage picking up a Zipcar the other week. Four years after getting rid of the 560SEL, the garage guy asked about it. Said they all loved it, and they drive everything.

Go for it, hones.

move the keerist on.

> I think in life it is worth knowing which battles to fight and which on'es not to. Unless you have some very strong attachment to this unit, I think it is time to move on. What you have is a bad relationship and even if you 'solve' this one, there will be more to come. This is nothing to do with the broker per say: in this deal the landlord and broker are in tandem and come as a package. It is not for you to know whether the broker is acting in the landlord's best interest - you have no idea what the landlord's circumstances are or the nature of the relationship. Maybe even the broker and landlord are spouses or business partners. There is a reason why the broker manages the unit and very likely the relationship between the landlord and broker/agent is far more important than that between the laandlord and a tenant who has been there only two years.

Take matsui's advice and get the hell out. There are plenty of fish to fry. Unless your apartment is printing Benjies, paying $3500 rent is it, to deal with this hassle is truly insanity.

> There is no way they are splitting it.

There is no way to tell now is there ?

> I think the mistake is that you are seeing the landlord's world the way you see yours - your worlds mmay actually be very different and 7000 USD may not matter as much to the landlord as you think it does.

Ding ding ding, to think the landlord is actually ON YOUR SIDE is a bet I wouldn't take, not in a million year! Go back to Matsui's original post of the "unknown" value placed in the landlord & broker relationship.

> Talk to a lawyer first and then do my best to talk to my landlord directly.

I will be surprise if talking to the landlord does anything but we shall see.

"I will be surprise if talking to the landlord does anything but we shall see."

I think most LL's would be PISSED about it.

so what was the outcome? what happened?

Why not share the broker's name?

I get the impression this is an isolated case of a broker abusing their agency over a property.

While the owner is a loser, they probably will never notice or care. The tenant stands to lose the most here.

Unfortunately the only way for a tenant to protect oneself is to never pay a fee thinking that it will enable them to stay past the initial lease term. Some think "oh well it's a $5k fee so if I stay 4 years it's only an extra $104 a month". But you only buy the right to one year, so you should be comparing it to a no-fee apartment costing $416/month more.

I am going through an almost identical situation. The broker wants a $500 renewal fee. He says the owner is requiring all occupants to be on the lease. The worst part is, the broker wants to charge my roommate $1000 or vacate. This has me in a serious bind.

I basically said, look I will pay you a fee for processing the paperwork, but I don't think you are entitled to any "broker's fee" because you haven't since I moved in 2 years ago. We'll see how it all goes down. Anyway, good feeling that I'm not the only person facing this kind of abusive practice. Renters need to back each other up.

Part of the issue is that there is allegedly a less than 1% vacancy rate for Manhattan apartments right now, so brokers aren't making fees. Some of the less scrupulous ones are looking for other ways to collect and this is one of them.

Your best bet is to call the state 518 474 4429 it sounds like profiteering to me.