The U.S. Department of Justice(DOJ) announced this month the filing of a lawsuit against the Texas-based real estate company RealPage, saying it engaged in a price-fixing scheme to drive up rents. Cortland, a company with 5000 rental properties in Houston told a Houston Chronicle reporter that they will cooperate with the DOJ.
The attorneys general of eight other states — North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington — have also joined the Justice Department’s antitrust suit filed in federal court in North Carolina.
The Justice Department has asserted that the algorithmic pricing system used by RealPage allows landlords of multifamily residences to conspire and set rental prices above the market rate. This has been suggested to limit renters’ ability to negotiate lease terms and could harm a large portion of the American population by reducing their competitive advantages.
“Americans should not have to pay more in rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “We allege that RealPage’s pricing algorithm enables landlords to share confidential, competitively sensitive information and align their rents.”