Big Landlord Settles With US, Will Cooperate In Price-Fixing Investigation (arstechnica.com)
(Tuesday January 07, 2025 @05:40PM (BeauHD)
from the cease-and-desist dept.)
- Reference: 0175847839
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/01/07/2144217/big-landlord-settles-with-us-will-cooperate-in-price-fixing-investigation
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/big-landlord-settles-with-us-will-cooperate-in-price-fixing-investigation/
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:
> The US Justice Department today [1]announced it filed an antitrust lawsuit against "six of the nation's largest landlords for participating in algorithmic pricing schemes that harmed renters." One of the landlords, Cortland Management, [2]agreed to [3]a settlement "that requires it to cooperate with the government, stop using its competitors' sensitive data to set rents and stop using the same algorithm as its competitors without a corporate monitor," the DOJ said. The pending settlement requires Cortland to "cooperate fully and truthfully... in any civil investigation or civil litigation the United States brings or has brought" on this subject matter.
>
> The US previously [4]sued RealPage, a software maker accused of helping landlords collectively set prices by giving them access to competitors' nonpublic pricing and occupancy information. The original version of the lawsuit described actions by landlords but did not name any as defendants. The Justice Department filed an [5]amended complaint (PDF) today in order to add the landlords as defendants. The landlord defendants are Greystar, LivCor, Camden, Cushman, Willow Bridge, and Cortland, which collectively "operate more than 1.3 million units in 43 states and the District of Columbia," the DOJ said. "The amended complaint alleges that the six landlords actively participated in a scheme to set their rents using each other's competitively sensitive information through common pricing algorithms," the DOJ said.
The phrase "price fixing" came up in discussions between landlords, the amended complaint said: "For example, in Minnesota, property managers from Cushman & Wakefield, Greystar, and other landlords regularly discussed competitively sensitive topics, including their future pricing. When a property manager from Greystar remarked that another property manager had declined to fully participate due to 'price fixing laws,' the Cushman & Wakefield property manager replied to Greystar, 'Hmm... Price fixing laws huh? That's a new one! Well, I'm happy to keep sharing so ask away. Hoping we can kick these concessions soon or at least only have you guys be the only ones with big concessions! It's so frustrating to have to offer so much.'"
The Justice Department is joined in the case by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington. The case is in US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Further reading: [6]Are We Entering an AI Price-Fixing Dystopia?
[1] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-six-large-landlords-algorithmic-pricing-scheme-harms-millions
[2] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/big-landlord-settles-with-us-will-cooperate-in-price-fixing-investigation/
[3] https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1383311/dl?inline
[4] https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/08/23/1649240/justice-department-sues-realpage-alleging-it-enabled-price-fixing-on-rents
[5] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ncmd.99417/gov.uscourts.ncmd.99417.47.0_1.pdf
[6] https://slashdot.org/story/24/08/11/1910228/are-we-entering-an-ai-price-fixing-dystopia
> The US Justice Department today [1]announced it filed an antitrust lawsuit against "six of the nation's largest landlords for participating in algorithmic pricing schemes that harmed renters." One of the landlords, Cortland Management, [2]agreed to [3]a settlement "that requires it to cooperate with the government, stop using its competitors' sensitive data to set rents and stop using the same algorithm as its competitors without a corporate monitor," the DOJ said. The pending settlement requires Cortland to "cooperate fully and truthfully... in any civil investigation or civil litigation the United States brings or has brought" on this subject matter.
>
> The US previously [4]sued RealPage, a software maker accused of helping landlords collectively set prices by giving them access to competitors' nonpublic pricing and occupancy information. The original version of the lawsuit described actions by landlords but did not name any as defendants. The Justice Department filed an [5]amended complaint (PDF) today in order to add the landlords as defendants. The landlord defendants are Greystar, LivCor, Camden, Cushman, Willow Bridge, and Cortland, which collectively "operate more than 1.3 million units in 43 states and the District of Columbia," the DOJ said. "The amended complaint alleges that the six landlords actively participated in a scheme to set their rents using each other's competitively sensitive information through common pricing algorithms," the DOJ said.
The phrase "price fixing" came up in discussions between landlords, the amended complaint said: "For example, in Minnesota, property managers from Cushman & Wakefield, Greystar, and other landlords regularly discussed competitively sensitive topics, including their future pricing. When a property manager from Greystar remarked that another property manager had declined to fully participate due to 'price fixing laws,' the Cushman & Wakefield property manager replied to Greystar, 'Hmm... Price fixing laws huh? That's a new one! Well, I'm happy to keep sharing so ask away. Hoping we can kick these concessions soon or at least only have you guys be the only ones with big concessions! It's so frustrating to have to offer so much.'"
The Justice Department is joined in the case by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington. The case is in US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Further reading: [6]Are We Entering an AI Price-Fixing Dystopia?
[1] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-six-large-landlords-algorithmic-pricing-scheme-harms-millions
[2] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/big-landlord-settles-with-us-will-cooperate-in-price-fixing-investigation/
[3] https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1383311/dl?inline
[4] https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/08/23/1649240/justice-department-sues-realpage-alleging-it-enabled-price-fixing-on-rents
[5] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ncmd.99417/gov.uscourts.ncmd.99417.47.0_1.pdf
[6] https://slashdot.org/story/24/08/11/1910228/are-we-entering-an-ai-price-fixing-dystopia
Good grief. (Score:2)
by nightflameauto ( 6607976 )
> When a property manager from Greystar remarked that another property manager had declined to fully participate due to 'price fixing laws,' the Cushman & Wakefield property manager replied to Greystar, 'Hmm... Price fixing laws huh? That's a new one! Well, I'm happy to keep sharing so ask away. Hoping we can kick these concessions soon or at least only have you guys be the only ones with big concessions! It's so frustrating to have to offer so much.'"
A property manager that doesn't know about price fixing laws? Or is this just the typical arrogance showing; they know, they just don't particularly care to the point where they ignore it as a reality?
At the very least, the language suggests there's some massive collusion going on among the landlords in the area. So much for capitalism being all about competition.
Re: (Score:2)
According to the lawsuits, it's illegal in the US, too.
Re: (Score:2)
Notionally. The amount of collusion and price fixing in the US that is very obvious to anyone looking, but that goes uninvestigated is hilarious. Ideally one would stay away from national brands, but as this topic shows, there are "nantional brands" behind almost everything. We claim to beleive in capitalism, but we absolutely abhor one of its most fundamental forces: competition.
Re: (Score:1)
Why is having absolute transparency about rental prices considered price fixing?
The stock market lists actual prices that shares are bought and sold at, as well as what the current bids and offers are.
This enables share sellers to know what their competitors are selling at, and likewise lets knows buyers know what the other buyers are bidding, so sellers and buyers can choose to raise or lower their prices to meet the market.
The real estate market should be equally transparent, for both renting and selling
Re: (Score:1)
> Why is having absolute transparency about rental prices considered price fixing?
It's not, but good job muddying the shit out of the whole issue with lots of extra words to make yourself sound insightful and make anyone out-of-the-loop on this issue measurably less informed and possibly actually stupider. This isn't about whatever the fuck you're talking about. This is about all the major landlords and rental property companies colluding on pricing in an anti-competitive fashion and attempting to shift the blame and liability for that illegal behavior to a 3rd party company while doing