The Division of Justice has introduced a settlement with RealPage, the broadly used rent-setting software program that it accused of partaking in collusion to drive up hire costs by sharing beforehand personal info from competing landlords. The settlement places limits on RealPage’s skill to gather and use that information, and blocks it from getting used to set rents.
Final yr, the DOJ and a number of other different states filed an antitrust lawsuit towards RealPage, claiming that the corporate’s rent-setting software program combines information from competing landlords to offer each day rental value ideas. “As competitor-landlords enhance their rents, RealPage’s software program nudges different competing landlords to extend their rents as properly,” the DOJ alleged.
If the court docket approves the DOJ’s settlement, RealPage should solely use information from landlords that’s 12 months or older to energy its algorithm. The settlement additionally requires RealPage to “take away or redesign” options that discourage landlords from decreasing costs or immediate landlords to match their costs with rivals. RealPage would even be barred from providing “hyperlocalized pricing” info, which Assistant Legal professional Common Abigail Slater describes in a video on X as mountaineering up rents “block-by-block.” RealPage denies any wrongdoing.
“RealPage was changing competitors with coordination, and renters paid the value,” Slater stated. “We reached a settlement that stops RealPage from coordinating pricing with its prospects.”
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