HousingWireHousingWire
The legal woes for RealPage keep piling up.
The property management software company was hit with yet another antitrust lawsuit this week, this time from New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, who alleges that RealPage conspired with 10 landlords to artificially inflate rent for “tens of thousands of New Jerseyans.”
The complaint — which contains heavy redactions — charges RealPage and the landlords with four counts related to consumer fraud and antitrust violations.
“The defendants in this case unlawfully lined their pockets at the expense of New Jersey renters who struggled to pay the increasingly unlivable price levels imposed by this cartel,” Platkin said in a statement. “Today we’re holding them accountable for unlawful conduct that fueled the state’s affordable housing crisis and deprived New Jerseyans of their fundamental right to shelter.”
RealPage did not respond to a request for comment.
Platkin alleges RealPage’s software contains mechanisms that enforce “strict adherence to the prices it generates” and has tools to ensure landlords accept that price.
The software at the center of the allegations is YieldStar, which uses first- and third-party data to help landlords set rents for multifamily units. YieldStar helps landlords maximize returns on their units.
The complaint does not mince words when it comes to the landlords, going so far as to call them a cartel that actively recruits other landlords to join the “scheme.” They allegedly used RealPage software to communicate with each other on multifamily rents.
The landlords named in the suit are Morgan Properties, Avalonbay, Kamson, Realty Operations Group, Lefrak Estates, Greystar Management, Aion Management, Cammeby’s Management, Veris Residential, Russo Property Management, Russo Development and Bozzuto Management Company.
It’s not the first antitrust filed against RealPage by the government. In August, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a similar complaint, alleging that YieldStar allows landlords to generate price floors based on data not available to the public. Litigation in that suit is ongoing.
Legal trouble started mounting for RealPage when ProPublica published an expose in October 2022 that revealed, among other things, that landlords were able to anonymously see what other landlords were charging for comparable units and avoid pricing below those numbers.
Since then a string of class-action lawsuits have been filed against RealPage, including in 2023 by a group of renters in Tennessee.
Since October, several lawsuits were filed against RealPage’s Leasing Desk Screening alleging that it published credit reports that falsely claimed rental applicants had felony convictions, previous evictions and other credit violations.
