Taking over a studio, $500 processing fee?

Who is the property owner? Lease breaks/assignments are always tricky

Its friday night - dinner, drinks, a few cab rides, a bottle of wine to gift for the after party and you're $500 lighter. So the problem is...?

they raised $120 more for the monthly rent - New tenant = new rent, especially in this mkt.
Is it legal? Yes
And does it make sense to you? Yes

Processing/application fees, credit check fees, etc...

$500 isn't so bad in NYC.

Tell us a bit more about the place, its ownership, how long your friend was there, did he or she pay a broker fee, what is the amount of rent (relative to the $120/mo).

If you are renting a condo the owner may need to pay the mgmt company an app fee. That might be the 500.

Thanks for all the comment. To add more info about this situation, I am a 20 year old student. The place is in Brooklyn near Pratt(clinton hill area) and it is a small studio in a really old building. It's $1350 per month. The landlord wants 2 months deposit(due to my low credit-student) + one month security deposit + the first month fee= 4 months +processing fee $500..
There was no broker involved..

Thanks all for the comment,
Extra info:
It's located in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. It's $1350 per month- studio in a really old apt.
I am a student at Pratt and have a job on campus.

Its reasonable and some coop and condo boards charge more than $750.00 for processing an application. The price is high for what they are doing, but unfortunately its the norm in NYC. Everything costs more in NYC except for $1.00 pizza

What neighborhood is this in?

I don't know who "the real estate" is but I agree this $500 sounds like a co-op or condo. You should find out if it is a co-op and understand that if so, your lease might be limited to one or two years by the building.

The processing fee will be the same for a studio to a 3 bedroom or larger. The paperwork is the same for all. If the studio is under lease and you are taking the lease over, the rent should stay the same unless you are extending the length of the lease. If there is no lease landlord can do whatever he/she wants.

Some of the really old buildings in that area are rent stabilized. You can look it up online and check whether that one is. If it is, then what he's pulling is not legal. You will be entitled to 3x damages if you are willing to take him to court for it. If you really want the apartment, you should probably consult a lawyer and see what's the best way to do it to get the apartment AND the proper rent.

If it's not rent stabilized, then pretty much the landlord can do what they want.