DOJ sues instrument company RealPage for allegedly serving to landlords collude to reserve rents prime
The Department of Justice and 8 states on Friday accused instrument corporate RealPage of unlawfully scheming to undermine festival amongst landlords and build a monopoly that harms tens of millions of renters.
RealPage “allows landlords to manipulate, distort, and subvert market forces,” the Justice Segment stated in a civil complaint in U.S. District Court docket in North Carolina.
“At bottom, RealPage is an algorithmic intermediary that collects, combines, and exploits landlords’ competitively sensitive information,” the antitrust lawsuit stated.
“And in so doing, it enriches itself and compliant landlords at the expense of renters who pay inflated prices and honest businesses that would otherwise compete,” the DOJ alleged.
Legal professional Common Merrick Garland in a press convention Friday morning put it extra bluntly: “Everybody knows the rent is too damn high, and we allege this is one of the reasons why.”
The lawsuit marks the primary while that the federal government has accused an organization of operating to systematically subvert the principles of free-market festival the use of mathematical algorithms.
“Antitrust law does not become obsolete simply because competitors find new ways to unlawfully act in concert,” Garland stated.
“And Americans should not have to pay more in rent simply because a company has found a new way to scheme with landlords to break the law.”
The DOJ is joined in its lawsuit by means of the lawyers common of North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington.
RealPage, which is owned by means of the private-equity firm Thoma Bravo, didn’t straight away reply to CNBC’s request for remark.
The lawsuit, which Garland stated adopted a just about two-year investigation, arrives in the course of a U.S. presidential election cycle the place prime housing and condo costs have emerged as a key factor.
Democratic nominee Kamala Harris terminating era unveiled an economic plan that goals to decrease condo prices partly by means of cracking ill at the corporations at the back of price-setting equipment that permit landlords collude.
— CNBC’s Eamon Javers contributed to this file.