Justice Department sues 6 largest landlords for algorithmic pricing scheme that ‘caused harm to millions of renters’

(Gray News) – The Department of Justice said on Tuesday that it filed an amended complaint in a lawsuit against six of the country’s largest landlords for participating in algorithmic pricing schemes that have harmed renters.

In a release, the Justice Department said the lawsuit was filed against software company RealPage and landlords Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC, 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.

The amended complaint alleges the rental companies took part in an unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords in apartment pricing, which caused harm to millions of renters in the U.S.

Put together, the six companies operate more than 1.3 million units in 43 states and Washington D.C.

The six landlords were accused of setting their rents using each other’s competitively sensitive information through common pricing algorithms.

Along with using RealPage’s anti-competitive pricing algorithms, the Justice Department said the landlords coordinated through a variety of means, including:

Directly communicating with competitors’ senior managers about rents, occupancy and other sensitive topics.
Regularly conducting “call arounds” in which property managers called or emailed competitors to share and discuss competitively sensitive information about rents, occupancy, pricing strategies and discounts.
Participating in “user groups” hosted by RealPage, where landlords would discuss how to modify the software’s pricing methodology as well as their own pricing strategies.

The Justice Department also filed a proposed consent decree with Cortland that requires it to cooperate with the government and stop using its competitors’ data to set rents as well as stopping its use of the same algorithm as its competitors without a corporate monitor.

Co-plaintiffs in the case are the Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington.