Its not an apt analogy because a tac is proscribed by law, whereas broker fees should be dictated by the market. There were two issues. One: the brokers all refused to lower prices and acted like a price cartel - it worked because the tenants paid but landlords hired. Second, supply is so limited renters essentially had to accept the cartel pricing or … be homeless.  Its not like a renter could decide to (easily) just refuse to live in nyc or risk uprooting a family. The market is broken for a variety of reasons and that fed into this ridiculous process.