We want to hear from you: Who should pay a broker's fee?

If you've rented a home in the Greater Boston area, you know you'll need a hefty sum upfront to be able to get those keys.

To secure a rental property, you're often looking at first and last month's rent, a security deposit and a broker's fee (often the equivalent of one month's rent). That means for an average priced, one-bedroom apartment in Massachusetts — $2,500 a month — a renter needs to be able to pay $10,000 when signing a lease. In more expensive cities like Boston and Cambridge, that number can be a lot higher.

The broker's fee, in particular, has come under scrutiny amid the state's housing crisis because the renter is usually on the hook to pay the real estate professional who helped broker the transaction — whether or not the renter hired the broker.

That may change soon. In her latest budget proposal, Gov. Maura Healey recommended a requirement that broker's fees be paid by whoever hired the broker. Typically, landlords hire brokers to list and show their rental units, though in some cases, renters hire brokers to help them find a place to live.

The Senate passed a bill last year that would have shifted the responsibility of paying the broker to the party who hired the professional, but the proposal died in the House. With Healey's upcoming push to bring the idea back, we want to hear from you: