New lease - Broker question (apartment, leases, tenant)

[TfromGowanus]

My landlord gave me a new lease - looks to be a standard Blumberg lease, but it has an added section at the end that was not on previous leases:

"39. Broker - If the name of a Broker appears in the box at the top of the first page of this Lease, Tenent states that this is the only broker that showed the Apartment to Tenant. If a Broker's name does not appear Tenant states that no agent or broker showed Tenant the Apartment. Tenant will pay Landlord any money Landlord may spend if either statemnent is incorrect."

Problem is - there WAS a broker that showed me the apartment but NOTHING appears at "the top box of the first page of this lease". So, I cannot sign the lease and agree that there was no broker.....
And what is all this "tenant will pay landlord" stuff?........is this a trick?....
I still have paperwork on the Broker's letterhead with information of my payment of first and last months rent plus security deposit. Is the landlord trying to erase any information that there ever was a broker?
What is this all about?

Is anyone familiar with this?

Thanks,
T

[Cida]

I'll start by saying up front that I don't know the answer to your question.

However, I'll suggest - in the hopes that someone will come along who's more knowledgeable than I - I think it would be useful to know:

1. Is that on the pre-printed Blumberg form, as your post implies, and not a rider that your LL added?

2. Was your place originally a fee or no-fee apartment? And how long have you been there?

While maintaining my complete ignorance, I'd guess that Blumberg may just have revised their form, and maybe your LL didn't even notice. Kudos to you for being a careful reader.

[NYChome]

It is not uncommon for landlords to have addendums to the standard Bloomberg lease.

You can add the name of the broker to the lease before signing it. I would call the landlord beforehand, so that he is aware.

I assume that you are paying the broker fee.

[crescent22]

You make it sound like this is a renewal. If so, leave it blank.

[jds2001]

If this was a renewal, as you state - there was no broker involved IN THIS LEASE, so I'd leave it blank. Simply because you originally found it via a broker is irrelevant after the first lease term.