To the Editor:

“$500 to Apply for an Apartment? Isn’t There a $20 Cap?” (news article, Sept. 3) is a perfect illustration of the lengths actors in the real estate industry will go to evade new laws to maintain a competitive advantage. If anything, it supports the need for more oversight and reform to clamp down on an industry that has policed itself for decades.

Legislation pending at the New York City Council would explicitly target brokers and cap fees on what they can charge for and how much. But the monetary penalties on each of these bills must be increased so they are not shrugged off as a “cost of doing business” but something meaningful that will definitively change behavior.