Tracking Algorithmic Rent-pricing Lawsuits

Source: Multifamily Dive
Photo: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland (C) speaks at a press conference at the U.S. Department of Justice on August 23, 2024 in Washington, DC. Officials with the Department of Justice held the news conference to make an announcement pertaining to their antitrust lawsuit against the real estate software company RealPage. (Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images)

Software providers RealPage and Yardi, along with a slew of apartment landlords, have landed in legal hot water in recent years over their tech-enabled rent-setting practices.

Major algorithmic rent-setting lawsuits began brewing in 2022 and have since proliferated, creating ongoing uncertainty for real estate software providers and the companies that use them.

Software giants RealPage and Yardi have gotten into legal hot water for their rent pricing products, and the biggest names in the multifamily housing industry have also been implicated for their use of such tools.

The federal government has expressed concern about the possibility of landlord collusion via pooled, nonpublic rent data, and states and local jurisdictions have also launched their own investigations looking into possible antitrust behavior. Some of those cases have been combined or resolved, and waves of settlements have started coming in as providers seek to extract themselves from prolonged legal wrangling.

In response, RealPage has started to go on the defensive, filing lawsuits challenging New York’s and the City of Berkeley, California’s anti-algorithmic pricing laws.

As these lawsuits work their way through the courts and new legal actions arise around the country, Multifamily Dive will continue to follow the latest developments and explore what they mean for the sector. Please check this page for regular updates.

https://www.multifamilydive.com/news/algorithmic-rent-pricing-lawsuit-tracker