Major landlords, RealPage sued in DC for alleged rent-fixing scheme

Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s office said Tuesday that it’s suing RealPage, a property management software company, and 14 of the district’s largest landlords for allegedly colluding to raise rents.

The complaint names several publicly traded real estate investment trusts, such as UDR, AvalonBay Communities and Equity Residential.

The companies shared data with RealPage, which then used an algorithm to artificially raise prices for more than 50,000 apartments across the city, costing renters millions of dollars in illegal rent hikes, according to a release from Schwalb’s office. The alleged collusion violates the District of Columbia’s Antitrust Act, the office said.

In a statement to CNBC, a company spokesperson for William C. Smith & Co. said the company does not comment on pending litigation. “In this case to our knowledge we have not received any official court papers and as a result lack any actual information about the specifics of the matter,” the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for JBG Smith Properties said the company does not comment on ongoing litigation.

Other landlords listed in the lawsuit didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Defendants’ coordinated and anticompetitive conduct amounted to a district-wide housing cartel,” Schwalb said in a statement. “At a time when affordable housing in D.C. is increasingly scarce,…