Legal Agreement with Rental Agent?

i never signed any contracts or any other paperwork for that matter.

Your agent is trying to make a living renting apartments. Going behind his back will not be respectful for his work. You will have probably not find this listing on your own and you are the one who reach out to him, right? I am sure you will not want anybody to do that to you. Good Karma goes along way.

He sent you both listings, but only saw one of them with you? Don't see the relevance of having seen one and not the other, if they are identical and he sent them both to you. If you didn't sign anything, you probably don't have any legal obligation. You'll certainly provide a good story for everyone on here if you choose to move forward without him, though.

True about the Karma, but this is NYC, and you're dealing with a rental broker. Most of the stories you hear are about them trying to screw YOU over, so in a way, it's a simple "what goes around comes around."

That's a douche-y thing to say by me, cause maybe he's a decent guy and trusted you, which sounds like it wasn't such a smart idea if you're on here asking this question...

Big dude, it would be quite slimy since you found the apartment based on the agent's referral. Moreover, if the agent finds out you moved forward on that apartment you could be sued and the agent would more than likely win since they have proof of having sent the listing to you.

Seems unlikely that Big Dude could be sued--on what grounds? He never had an agreement with the broker, and the broker's original plan would have been to get paid by a third party (the seller's broker).

Having said that, I agree that it seems evil to cut the broker out of the equation in this scenario, though--if a broker finds an apartment for you, you shouldn't cut them out of the deal. Golden rule and all that.

well actually sending a listing is not the same as an agreement. If I offer you advice as an accountant hoping for your business but we have no agreement about rate, etc, then you use someone else, how do i saw you for my time that we never agreed upon?

Same goes here. First of all while maybe slimy, not sure, he contacted an agent who I am not clear whether or not actually got off their ass to show him the apartment or just sent him a listing, but signed no agreement. What does he saw you for when there is no agreement?

just to fill in the background. i've been looking for a rental for awhile. mostly done on my own through this site, reaching out to the listing agents myself. this broker i've known for awhile, back when i was more seriously looking at buying a place. i decided to get him involved on my rental search and he started sending me listings. that being said, i found the same listing with the listing agent myself from SE.

my thought process was that i'd have to pay the 15% or so agent fee, regardless of whether I pay it all to the listing agent or the listing agent + my rental agent. so, i thought i'd throw him a bone and keep him in the loop. then he went all flaky on me, not returning calls, emails, acting slowly, etc.

my question here (which shook out about where i expected, as in, not illegal but probably not ethical) was more a theoretical since i was getting pretty annoyed. i figured i hadn't signed anything, so could just back out from his representation with minimal impact. but wasn't sure what grounds the agent might have to do anythinng.

but ultimately, i am moving forward with this agent, for the reason many stated above of not ruffling feathers. thanks all for your responses!