The past few weeks have brought a fresh wave of drama in what’s shaping up to be a regulatory reckoning — with pressure coming from all sides.
New York City’s long-debated Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses Act (FARE Act) is inching toward implementation. It’s a huge shift: starting this summer, landlords — not tenants — will be responsible for footing the bill for a broker hired to represent them. Naturally, not everyone is thrilled.
To enforce the change, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has proposed penalties of up to $2,000 per violation for brokers and landlords who don’t comply. It also wants to require clear disclosure of all listing fees — a seemingly simple move that could disrupt long-standing practices. REBNY is already challenging the city’s authority in court, framing the law as a free speech violation.
Zoom out, and this skirmish is just one front in a much larger war over control and transparency in real estate — one that’s now pitting portals, brokerages and trade groups against each other.
At the center of the fight is NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP), which mandates that listings be submitted to the MLS within 24 hours of public marketing. Zillow recently moved to enforce the rule more aggressively, banning private listings that aren’t in the MLS. Redfin backed the decision. Compass did not.
Compass CEO Robert Reffkin has gone full activist. In open letters and social media posts, he’s accused NAR and the MLS system of stifling competition and limiting consumer choice.
Meanwhile, CoStar CEO Andy Florance has launched his own offensive. In a fiery LinkedIn post, he accused Zillow of using CCP to protect profits, not consumers. He argued that agents — not portals — should decide where and how listings appear. It’s a pointed message from a competitor with billion-dollar ambitions: Homes.com, CoStar’s crown jewel, now claims to have overtaken Realtor.com in traffic.
All of this is unfolding as trust in traditional broker oversight wanes — particularly in New York, where REBNY’s influence appears diminished. Between policy defeats, lawsuits and limited consequences for high-profile misbehavior, many agents are left wondering who’s really enforcing the rules?
In Florida, lawmakers are considering eliminating the state’s real estate regulatory board altogether. The Florida Real Estate Commission, which oversees licensing and disciplinary action for agents and brokers, could be dissolved under a new bill. Critics, including Compass agent Jason Haber, say the move would strip the industry of its referee.
“Who is going to step in and call balls and strikes?” Haber asked. “This is like being in the middle of the game and pulling the referee out.”
Outside of the regulatory reckoning, there was plenty of news this week. Rialto set its sights on the King of Retail, South Florida developers brace for Trump’s tariffs and Patrick Carroll avoids prosecution in his LA criminal case.
Rialto Capital, after going scorched earth on CRE’s troubled borrowers, is going after the King of Retail, Jeff Sutton. Jeff Krasnoff’s company is seeking to foreclose on Wharton Properties’ leasehold on the retail building at 144 5th Avenue in the Flatiron District.
South Florida condo developers are scrambling as Trump’s broad 10 percent tariffs on imported goods create ripple effects across supply chains. Most developers agree that the real challenge isn’t necessarily the tariffs themselves, but the uncertainty that complicates budgeting and planning.
The embattled developer agreed to undergo mental health counseling for two years in exchange for Los Angeles prosecutors dismissing a criminal case against him. Carroll had pending felony charges of displaying a loaded firearm in public and evading a police officer following an incident captured by a TV news helicopter of him fleeing and eluding Los Angeles cops last summer.
The Trump administration is going after New York Attorney General Letitia James over her personal real estate deals in what looks like a political revenge play following her $454 million civil fraud win against the president last year. The allegations include misreporting the unit count on her Brooklyn rental and claiming a Virginia home was a primary address to secure better mortgage terms — charges that are minor at best, and in some cases, decades old.
While many Chicago landlords were trying to hang on to their properties in 2022 to 2023 as the multifamily market was rocked by rising interest rates and a surge of foreclosures, one embarked upon a gutsy expansion. By the end of 2023, Yissocher “Izzy” Rotenberg and his deal partner Naftalie Berger had accumulated about 500 apartment units across Chicago in just two years. Rotenberg and Berger spent at least $48 million on 25 properties in the Windy City, securing $40 million in loans along the way. But lenders were circling Rotenberg soon after he made those purchases.
A group of six brokers who recently jumped from Eastdil to Newmark are calling their former firm’s trade secrets lawsuit a thinly veiled attempt to enforce illegal noncompetes and silence competition. Eastdil sued the brokers, alleging they stole trade secrets and sought a court order to keep them from discussing the firm’s business, but a judge denied Eastdil’s request for a restraining order, and the brokers fired back with an anti-SLAPP motion.
A waterfront Miami Beach home owned by disgraced agent Oren Alexander hit the rental market for $55,000 a month. The 4,267-square-foot house at 1611 West 24th Street on the Sunset Islands is listed with the Corcoran Group’s Isaac Lustgarten, who worked closely with Alexander. It hit the market last week.
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