PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The federal lawsuit that Oregon joined against a software firm accused of rental price-fixing has been updated to include property owners.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed the amended complaint against RealPage on Tuesday. The civil antitrust lawsuit now lists some of "the nation’s largest landlords” — Camden Property Trust, Cortland Management, Cusman & Wakefield, Greystar Real Estate Partners, LivCor, Pinnacle Property Management Services and Willow Bridge Property Company — as co-defendants.
Filed in August, the original complaint alleged property owners send “nonpublic, competitively sensitive information” to RealPage so the firm can use the data to fix housing prices.
“For instance, landlords discussed via user groups how to modify the software’s pricing methodology, as well as their own pricing strategies,” DOJ said in a release. “In one example, LivCor and Willow Bridge executives participated in a user group discussion of plans for renewal increases, concessions and acceptance rates of RealPage rent recommendations.”
The agency reported that the identified landlords operate more than 1.3 million rental units in 43 states nationwide. According to court documents, renters in several local submarkets — including Central Portland, Hillsboro and West Beaverton — have been or could have been harmed by RealPage’s algorithm.
In addition to Oregon, the DOJ’s initial lawsuit against the firm listed California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee and Washington as the plaintiffs. Illinois and Massachusetts have since joined the complaint.
Cortland Management is the only defendant that has settled the lawsuit with federal and state leaders thus far. Officials stated the Atlanta-based company has agreed to a proposed consent decree that requires it to cooperate with the ongoing investigation and to stop using sensitive, third-party data to determine costs.
The agreement also prohibits Cortland from “soliciting, disclosing or using any competitively sensitive information with any other property manager as part of setting rental prices or generating rental pricing recommendations,” according to the DOJ.
