Why Is Rent Going Up?
Rents in multi-unit apartment buildings have been on the rise for years. Plaintiffs allege a small group of apartment management companies across the United States have illegally raised rents by adopting above-market rents provided to them by a company called RealPage. They allege RealPage operates a sophisticated algorithm that processes non-public and highly sensitive pricing information provided by the apartment management companies: information they would normally never share with their horizontal competitors. It then provides the apartment management companies with supracompetitive rents that the apartment management companies agree to charge renters up to 90% of the time. RealPage strongly encourages the companies not to negotiate with renters, even if it means the apartments will go empty. By restricting the number of apartments available in the market and agreeing to charge RealPage’s recommended rent, these landlords can charge above-market rates for the apartments.
By agreeing to charge the rent recommended by RealPage’s algorithm, the landlords are essentially agreeing not to compete with one another on the amount of rent charged, potentially leading to higher rents.
The apartment management companies the firm believes may have artificially raised rents include:
- Apartment Management Consultants
- Asset Living, LLC
- Avenue5 Residential, LLC
- BH Management LLC
- The Bozzuto Group
- Camden Property Trust
- Cortland Properties, Inc.
- Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.
- Equity Residential
- Essex Property Trust, Inc.
- FPI Management, Inc.
- Greystar Real Estate Partners, LLC
- Lincoln Property Co.
- Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc.
- Morgan Properties
- RPM Living LLC
- Security Properties Inc.
- Thrive Communities Management, LLC
- WinnCompanies LLC
Case Filed
The Joseph Saveri Law Firm, LLP has filed two lawsuits—Schmidig v. RealPage and Marchetti v.
RealPage—alleging that RealPage and the above apartment management defendants have violated
the antitrust laws of the United States. Both actions seek money damages and injunctive relief under
Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1. The actions have been consolidated in multidistrict
litigation entitled In re Apartment Rental Software Antitrust Litigation (No. II) in the United States
District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
In June 2023, the firm was Court-appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee.
If you or anyone you know lives or has lived in units owned by any of these companies, we would
like to hear from you. Any information you provide to us will be kept strictly confidential as provided by law.