Several large landlords allegedly colluded in an effort to keep apartment rents high, including by using an algorithm that influences prices, according to new legal filings by the Colorado attorney general, the U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of other states.
An amended complaint filed Tuesday added six landlords to an antitrust lawsuit levied last summer against RealPage, the software developer whose algorithms have faced scrutiny for their alleged role in fixing rents. The landlords added to the suit are Greystar, LivCor, Camden Property Trust, Cushman & Wakefield, Willow Bridge, and Cortland, all of which own or operate properties in Colorado and are among the largest landlords in the country.
Greystar alone has more than 45,000 units in Colorado, according to Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesman for Attorney General Phil Weiser. Cortland operates at least 15 apartment complexes here, equating to several thousand more units.
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In a statement, Weiser’s office accused the companies of participating “in an unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords in apartment pricing, harming millions of American renters.” The suit accuses them of feeding their internal data into RealPage’s pricing algorithm, which was then used by the landlords to set and adjust their rental prices.
The suit also alleges that the companies directly communicated about rents and occupancy rates while participating in “user groups” organized by RealPage.
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