The property management software company RealPage Inc. has agreed to a proposed settlement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that will resolve charges that the company’s revenue management product was improperly used by multifamily property owners to collude in rent fixing schemes.
The agreement includes no financial penalties, damages, or findings or admissions of wrongdoing by the company. Instead, the DOJ will require RealPage to adhere to the following conditions:
- Cease having its software use competitors’ nonpublic, competitively sensitive information to determine rental prices in runtime operation;
- Cease using active lease data for purposes of training the models underlying the software, limiting model training to historic or backward-looking nonpublic data that has been aged for at least 12 months;
- Not use models that determine geographic effects narrower than at a state level, which is broader than the markets alleged in the complaint;
- Remove or redesign features that limited price decreases or aligned pricing between competing users of the software;
- Cease conducting market surveys to collect competitively sensitive information;
- Refrain from discussing market analyses or trends based on nonpublic data, or pricing strategies, in RealPage meetings relating to revenue management software;
- Accept a court-appointed monitor to ensure compliance with the terms of the consent judgment; and
- Cooperate in the DOJ’s lawsuit against property management companies that have used its software.
“Competing companies must make independent pricing decisions, and with the rise of algorithmic and artificial intelligence tools, we will remain at the forefront of vigorous antitrust enforcement,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division.
The company viewed the settlement as a victory, with President and CEO Dirk Wakeham declaring, “This resolution marks an important milestone for RealPage, our customers, and the multifamily industry. Through it all, our teams remained focused on serving customers and advancing the technology the industry relies on every day. We are convinced that RealPage is part of the solution to addressing the cost of housing, helping operators make informed, independent decisions in a complex housing market. We are pleased to have reached this agreement with the DOJ, which brings the clarity and stability we have long sought and allows us to move forward with a continued focus on innovation and the shared goal of better outcomes for both housing providers and renters.”
