Dept. of Justice files lawsuit against RealPage alleging rental price-fixing

RealPage price-fixing lawsuit overview: 

• Who: The U.S. Department of Justice and the states of North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon and Tennessee filed an antitrust lawsuit against RealPage Inc.
• Why: The DOJ and states claim RealPage software creates near real-time price recommendations that harm the competitive process and renters. 
• Where: The lawsuit was filed in North Carolina federal court. 

Property management software company RealPage has built a business out of “frustrating the natural forces of competition,” according to a complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and multiple states this month. 

The antitrust lawsuit claims RealPage unlawfully collects non-public information from competing landlords and uses it to create pricing recommendations that harm the competitive process and renters. 

“RealPage replaces competition with coordination,” the RealPage lawsuit says. “It substitutes unity for rivalry. It subverts competition and the competitive process. It does so openly and directly—and American renters are left paying the price.” 

The DOJ is joined in the antitrust complaint by the states of North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon and Tennessee. 

RealPage ‘distorts’ competition between landlords, suit says

The DOJ and the states claim RealPage unlawfully “distorts” competition between landlords through the use of its software, which allegedly enables them to “sidestep vigorous competition to win renters’ business.” 

“Landlords, who would otherwise be competing with each other, submit on a daily basis their competitively sensitive information to RealPage,” the RealPage lawsuit says. 

Nonpublic information used to produce near real-time pricing recommendations via RealPage’s software includes rental prices from executed leases, lease terms and future occupancy, among other material and granular rental data, according to the RealPage lawsuit. 

The DOJ and states argue RealPage software’s pricing recommendations are unlawful since a free market “requires that landlords compete on the merits, not coordinate pricing.”

“Landlords should win renters by offering whatever combination of price and quality they think is most attractive,” the RealPage lawsuit says. 

RealPage agreed to pay $1.8 million earlier this year to put an end to separate claims the company acted as an illegal collection agency by charging administrative fees on monthly statements. 

Are you a renter who has been injured by RealPage? Let us know in the comments.

The RealPage price-fixing lawsuit is United States of America, et al. v. RealPage, Inc., Case No. 1:24-cv-00710, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.

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