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It's good that there's no surprise fees, but they're still being paid. It's like anything, the value is just hidden in the price of the product now, rent in this case.

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The landlord can decide if it's worth paying them then

That's not how anything works. The money doesn't just come from nowhere, or from the landlord's profits. It is accounted for as an increase to rent. That's what I meant by "surprise fees", you're still paying them, they're just not a surprise anymore. Maybe the increased transparency in the market will push out brokers that aren't adding value, but that's more of a hope.

It's not a hope, it's reality in other countries, like the UK.

We banned letting agent fees charged to the tenant. Miraculously, landlords didn't find paying £250 for a contract renewal value for money.

Rents continue to go up and down, but now tenants know they are spending money on their flat or house, rather than paying inflated fees to a letting agent/broker.

If the landlord pays a fee equal to a percentage of the rent you will be paying them if you rent there. If they are pervasively popular in your market you wont have much choice but to pay them as well.

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