New York City landlords will be required to pay costly broker fees for tenants under a plan approved by the City Council that real estate groups argue will drive up rents and make it harder to find housing in the city.

The New York City Council passed, in a 42-8 vote, a bill that will put an end to forcing tenant-paid brokers fees, as the city looks for strategies to tackle the housing affordability crisis. Now, whoever hires the broker will have to pay their fees.

The New York City Council has outlawed the practice of landlords passing broker fees onto residential tenants in New York City.

New York City plans to pass the Fare Act to eliminate broker fees, but some doubt its effectiveness. Critics fear it could raise rents as landlords pass costs on to tenants. Brown Harris Stevens CEO Bess Freedman discusses why she feels it's short-sighted with Sonali Basak and Abigail Doolittle on " Markets".

Mandatory broker fees, an unusual feature of New York City apartment hunting long reviled by renters, will be banned under legislation that passed Wednesday after overcoming fierce backlash from the city's real estate lobby.

Legislation passed this week in New York City leaves Boston as the last major city where tenants can be required to pay hefty fees for real estate brokers hired by their landlords.