The U.S. Department of Justice and eight DoS attorneys general have file an antitrust cause against the real the three estates package company RealPage accusing it of collude with landlords to diminish contention and artificially inflate rental price .
Thecomplaintalleges that the Texas - based company feeds nonpublic entropy about rent rate and letting terms between contend landlords into its algorithms , which then urge rate increases to landlords based on their competitors ’ information . The result , the DOJ allege , is that landlords do n’t compete against each other to pull in tenants and economic rent go up across entire market .
“ By eat raw data into a advanced algorithm powered by contrived intelligence , RealPage has find a modern room to violate a hundred - one-time constabulary through taxonomical coordination of rental living accommodations cost — subvert competitor and loveliness for consumer in the process , ” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco enounce in a statement . “ Training a machine to bust the law is still give out the law . ”
The Department of Justice on Friday filed an antitrust lawsuit against the real estate software company RealPage© The Department of Justice on Friday filed an antitrust lawsuit against the real estate software company RealPage © Tada Images
Another landlord that used RealPage ’s YieldStar algorithm allegedly told the caller that within 11 months of adopting the tool they had increased rents by more than 25 percent and had get competitors damage up as a resultant role . A RealPage executive director allegedly reply that it was a “ great case sketch , ” according to the charge .
The company ’s influence on national rental prices seems to be massive . Between January 2017 and June 2023 , more than 85 percent of the last floor program price coiffure by landlord nationally were within 5 pct of the prices RealPage ’s algorithmic program recommended , consort to the lawsuit . The company ’s computer software was allegedly designed to make price fixing nearly automatic , with default features enable that mechanically have urge price increases if they lessen within certain ranges . “ By enabling machine - accept , a landlord functionally delegate price authority to Real Page , ” according to the lawsuit .
In response to the causa , a RealPage spokesperson toldThe New York Timesthat the company ’s software was “ purposely built to be legally compliant . ”
The DOJ ’s lawsuit , which was joined by the attorneys general of North Carolina , California , Colorado , Connecticut , Minnesota , Oregon , Tennessee , and Washington , was filed in a North Carolina Union court .
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