The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has reached a settlement with RealPage, a prominent rent-setting software provider, following allegations of collusion aimed at raising rental prices through sharing sensitive data among competing landlords. The settlement imposes restrictions on RealPage’s data collection and usage practices, specifically preventing the use of such data for rent-setting purposes.
In a prior legal action last year, the DOJ and multiple states filed an antitrust lawsuit against RealPage. They asserted that the company’s software merges data from various landlords to generate daily rental price recommendations. The lawsuit claimed that when some landlords raised their rents, RealPage’s software effectively encouraged other landlords to do the same.
If the court approves the settlement, RealPage will only be permitted to utilize landlord data that is at least 12 months old to inform its algorithms. Furthermore, the settlement mandates that RealPage alter or eliminate features that discourage landlords from reducing prices or that incentivize them to match the prices of competitors. Additionally, the company will be prohibited from providing “hyperlocalized pricing” information, which has been characterized as contributing to rent increases on a more granular, neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis. RealPage maintains that it has not engaged in any wrongdoing in this matter.
Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater remarked that the actions of RealPage had resulted in diminished competition and subsequently higher costs for renters. The settlement aims to curtail RealPage’s ability to coordinate pricing strategies among its clients.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/news/828335/doj-realpage-settlement-rent-setting-software