Is paying a finder's fee to an unlicensed individual legal in NY?

[showtime]

Pretty sure it's not, but wanted to make sure. I'm fairly sure this would be classified as a kickback and is not allowed under NY's real property law.

I only believe it's legal for brokers to give commission incentives to direct customers in New York, but a finder's fee to an unlicensed individual not otherwise connected with the transaction would be illegal.

Can someone confirm this?

[aslan]

I have an agent friend who was asked this once, by a nice friend who referred a potential buyer client. Obviously no way for the friend to know that receiving a finder's fee or any sort of kickback is illegal under NY State Law. My friend felt bad for having to tell his friend that it was illegal. Here was the nice email he wrote informing her of such:

Thank you so much for thinking of us, and so glad you remembered us Mary :-) We really appreciate you coming to us and checking out this great building.

Regarding any finder’s fee, I’m afraid that a finder’s fee to an unlicensed third party individual is not allowed under NY State Law. There’s no way you would have known that so please don’t take offense for the official side of me having to state that for the record, happy to call you about it for more of an explanation.

With that said, I’d love to have you on the team if you got your salesperson’s license, especially given your wide network. It’s an easy process and we’re one of the only firms that are happy to have part-time (work your own hours/schedule) agents onboard.

Furthermore, I’m pretty sure it’s not illegal to take you out to dinner or drinks post closing. That should be quite customary :-)