RALEIGH, N.C. –Attorney General Jeff Jackson has sued six landlords for illegally working together to raise North Carolinians’ rents.
The six landlords, according to the Attorney General’s office, are Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC, Blackstone’s LivCor LLC, Camden Property Trust, Cushman & Wakefield Inc and Pinnacle Property Management Services LLC, Willow Bridge Property Company LLC, and Cortland Management LLC.
It is alleged that the six corporations collaborated using RealPage’s algorithm to “set rents for approximately a third of one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments in the Raleigh, Durham/Chapel Hill, and Charlotte metro areas.”
Attorney General Jackson claims that these landlords control or manage more than 70,000 units across the state.
“North Carolinians are struggling to afford their rent as it is – we won’t stand for landlords and real estate companies making the problem worse to line their own pockets,” said Jeff Jackson, the state’s attorney general. “I’m suing these landlords to make sure they play by the rules so North Carolinians can get fair prices for rent.”
This action is part of Attorney General Jackson’s continuing litigation against the software business RealPage. The lawsuit accuses RealPage of “exploiting landlords’ competitively sensitive information to create a pricing algorithm in violation of antitrust laws and enriching themselves at the expense of renters, who end up paying inflated prices.”
According to the Attorney General’s office, the landlords corresponded with RealPage and each other to trade confidential information about rent prices, occupancy, rent-setting techniques, and discounts.
“The alleged illegal conduct harms North Carolinians who are struggling to pay rent and stay in their homes as rental prices increase, and they harm landlords who are trying to play fairly and follow the rules,” the representative’s office said.
The complaint was filed with the United States Department of Justice and the Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington.