Edward J. Markey
09/19/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/19/2024 09:21
Markey, Warren, Moulton Demand Answers From Corporate Landlords in Massachusetts Allegedly Using Rent-Hiking Algorithm
Lawmakers push landlords to cut ties with RealPage, company behind software allegedly used to share proprietary data and hike rents
Washington, D.C. - Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Representative Seth Moulton (D-MA-06), today demanded answers from 13 corporate landlords operating in Massachusetts, asking these companies whether they are using RealPage's algorithm to raise rents for Massachusetts families.
Last month, the Department of Justice and attorneys general in eight states filed a major antitrust lawsuit alleging that RealPage's software enabled landlords to collude to raise rents and accusing RealPage of monopolizing the market with its rent-setting software.
The lawmakers sent the letters to the following companies: Greystar, Bozzuto Group, Avalon Bay, Equity Residential, UDR, Bell Partners, AIR Communities, Related Companies, Gables Residential, Cushman and Wakefield, Brookfield Properties, WinnResidential, and Lincoln Property.
"Massachusetts is in the midst of a housing affordability crisis; rents in the Commonwealth are currently the highest in the country. In the midst of this crisis, we are extraordinarily concerned that corporate landlords are taking advantage of renters in Massachusetts, gouging them with illegal price-fixing schemes," wrote the lawmakers.
The lawmakers pushed the companies to cut ties with RealPage and stop using the company's software. The lawmakers also highlighted the real-life impacts of RealPage's harmful tactics on renters in Massachusetts and beyond.
"In 2022, a vice president of RealPage touted that apartment rents had increased by over 14.5%, stating 'I think [the software is] driving it, quite honestly.' In Seattle, rents rose by 33% in a RealPage-priced building over the course of 2021, while they rose by 3.9% in a comparable building that didn't use the algorithm. For renters across the country and in the Commonwealth, RealPage's tools are alleged to have enabled landlords to hike rents well above fair market value in the midst of a statewide and national affordable housing crisis," wrote the lawmakers.
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