Justice Department includes six rental companies in lawsuit against RealPage
Six of the largest rental companies in the country are accused of using a pricing scheme that is harmful to renters.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The U.S. Department of Justice filed an amended complaint on Tuesday in its antitrust lawsuit against RealPage, to sue six of the nation’s largest “landlords” for taking part in an algorithmic pricing scheme that ultimately harmed renters.
The six rental companies - Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC (Greystar); Blackstone’s LivCor LLC, Camden Property Trust, Cushman & Wakefield Inc. and Pinnacle Property Management Services LLC, Willow Bridge Property Company LLC, and Cortland Management LLC - participated in a scheme aimed at decreasing competition amongst each other when it comes apartment pricing.
The complaint details how the six companies kept their rent prices high by sharing their sensitive pricing information, using RealPage’s pricing algorithms.
Additionally, they coordinated with each other by:
- Directly communicating with competitors’ senior managers about rents, occupancy, and other competitively sensitive topics.
- Regularly conducting “call arounds” to share and discuss pricing strategies.
- Participating in “user groups” hosted by RealPage.
- Sharing information with competitors about parameters in RealPage’s software.
“While Americans across the country struggled to afford housing, the landlords named in today’s lawsuit shared sensitive information about rental prices and used algorithms to coordinate to keep the price of rent high,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Today’s action against RealPage and six major landlords seeks to end their practice of putting profits over people and make housing more affordable for millions of people across the country.”
The Just Department also proposed a settlement with Cortland, which manages more than 80,000 rental units in 13 states, that requires Cortland to cooperate with the investigation and ensuing litigation and end its use of common rental pricing algorithms.
the Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington all joined the lawsuit against RealPage and the six rental companies.
Several of the companies included in the suit operate properties here in Nashville, including Camden Property Trust, Cushman & Wakefield, and Cortland.
The release from the DOJ, announcing the amended complaint addition to the lawsuit, can be found here.
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