Feds Bust Rental Giants for Secret Price-Fixing Scheme
Published Date: 5/14/2025
Notice
Summary
The U.S. government and several states are taking on RealPage and Cortland Management for teaming up to share secret info and fix rental prices, which isn’t fair to renters. They’ve proposed a final plan to stop this behavior and protect competition, and the court is set to approve it soon. This means landlords must play fair, and renters could see better, more honest pricing in the near future.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Renter Prices Likely More Competitive
If you rent apartments, the proposed Final Judgment aims to stop Cortland from sharing secret pricing data and using RealPage’s coordinated recommendations so rents are set by market forces instead of coordinated pricing. The order requires Cortland to stop using RealPage and nonpublic third-party data and the remedy will expire four years from the date the Court enters the Final Judgment.
Cortland Faces Software, Data, Oversight Rules
Cortland must stop using RealPage revenue-management software and switch to its own proprietary system within 30 days of the Court entering the Final Judgment. Cortland cannot use or train models on third-party nonpublic data or pool pricing across different owners, must adopt an antitrust compliance policy with a designated compliance officer and annual audits, allow Justice Department inspections of documents and code, and may be subject to an independent compliance monitor; these restrictions last until the Final Judgment expires four years from entry.
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