DOJ sues RealPage over alleged ‘scheme’ to help landlords hike rent
- DOJ alleges landlords share nonpublic, sensitive info with RealPage
- RealPage software recommends prices for other landlords based on info: DOJ
- Suit says in free market, company has to independently attract renters
FILE – A sign outside the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building is seen in Washington, May 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
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(NewsNation) — The Department of Justice announced Friday it filed an antitrust lawsuit against RealPage, alleging the company’s software helped landlords collude to raise rents.
“Americans should not have to pay more for rent because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “Using software as the sharing mechanism does not immunize this scheme from Sherman Act liability, and the Justice Department will continue to aggressively enforce the antitrust laws and protect the American people from those who violate them.”
A DOJ complaint alleges that the real estate software company enters into contracts with competing landlords who agree to share “nonpublic, competitively sensitive information” about apartment rental rates and other lease terms to train and run RealPage’s algorithmic pricing software. This software, according to the DOJ, then creates recommendations on apartment rental pricing and other terms for participating landlords “based on their and their rivals’ competitively sensitive information.”
In a free market, the complaint says, landlords would have to compete independently to attract renters.
NewsNation has reached out to RealPage for comment.
RealPage issued a statement in June after past claims surfaced against the company from the media and other legal filings, characterizing them as “false and misleading.” It argued that landlords can decide their own rent prices, and don’t have to use suggestions from RealPage Software.
“Despite the noise, we will continue to innovate with confidence and make sure our solutions continue to benefit residents and housing providers alike,” Dana Jones, RealPage CEO and president, said in the statement.
This litigation against RealPage is the latest example of the Biden administration’s aggressive antitrust enforcement. In March, the Justice Department sued Apple, then in May announced a sweeping lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its owner, Live Nation Entertainment. Antitrust enforcers have also opened investigations into the roles Microsoft, Nvidia and OpenAI have played in the artificial intelligence boom.
Attorneys General of North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington are also taking part of the civil suit filed Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
