A year after New York banned broker fees, a new paywall emerged. Brokers are now charging renters thousands of dollars just to view apartments that never appear on public sites. Some charge $4,000 for access. Others charge one month’s rent. One agent at Charney Brokerage expects half her summer leases to close without hitting major listing portals. Brokers post off-market apartments on social media and watch inquiries roll in. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection issued 79 summonses for violations as of July. It returned $15,475 to renters charged unlawful fees. The practice persists anyway. Renters keep paying because apartments 60% below market rent are worth thousands in access fees.

This is an evolution of the larger battle over exclusive listings. Compass pushed for a two-tier system where they could to provide private exclusive listings to their clients. Zillow responded by making this practice a violation of their terms of service. Lawsuits ensued. Compass initially sued Zillow in 2025 over listing standards that prohibited agents from marketing properties outside Zillow’s platform, but dropped the case in March 2026 after Zillow softened enforcement, only to have Zillow turn around and sue Compass for allegedly withholding listings.

Landlords also have the option to pull apartments from public sites and rely on private networks. Brokers are now discovering they could charge for access to exclusive listings. Other industries have used this same business model. Loyalty reward hotel deals, members-only travel discounts, last minute restaurant reservations. Real estate could easily follow. Brokers with good networks control access to something extremely valuable. It only makes sense that they would find new ways to monetize it.

This practice could face legal challenges, but legislation banning pay-to-view listings faces real obstacles. Most real estate regulation happens on the state level and most states have yet to pass any regulations on broker fees. Coordinated state action to ban pay-to-view models is unlikely. Brokers will continue monetizing access while regulators issue summonses.

Multiple Listing Services and the NAR will have to weigh in on these fees, as they could start to give the industry an even worse reputation. The problem goes beyond just fee structure. Real estate listings have become more scarce and therefore valuable. Tech platforms have profited off of brokers’ listings for over a decade now. This is a way for brokers to extract some of the value from the listings and clients that they spend so much time cultivating. If this practice gets prohibited, enterprising brokers will just find another way to profit off of their exclusive listings.