Now Seattle Landlords are a "Cartel" Conspiring to Raise Rents

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Seattle landlords accused of conspiring to raise apartment rents

https://www.seattletimes.com/b...

Nov. 16, 2022 at 4:00 pm Updated Nov. 16, 2022 at 10:17 pm

The Capitol Hill neighborhood, seen from atop the Space Needle. (Kylie Cooper / The Seattle Times)

Several of the largest property management companies operating in Seattle conspired to drive up rents and decrease competition, three lawsuits filed this month allege.

The cases, filed in federal court in Seattle, focus on the use of RealPage software, which gathers information about rental units and rent prices and uses an algorithm to recommend how much landlords should charge.

The complaints claim that by exchanging detailed and “competitively sensitive” information, RealPage and the landlords have illegally created a “cartel” to set prices in violation of antitrust laws.

The widespread use of RealPage has increased rents across the country and in Seattle neighborhoods such as downtown, Capitol Hill, the Central District, South Lake Union and Queen Anne, the complaints allege.

The lawsuits, filed on behalf of tenants, cited an investigation by the nonprofit news outlet ProPublica that was published in October and detailed the use of RealPage in Seattle and other cities. ProPublica found, for example, that 70% of large apartment buildings in Belltown were run by 10 property management firms that all used the software in at least some of their buildings.

Two of the three complaints filed in Seattle focus on traditional market-rate rentals, and the third focuses on student housing. The complaints name RealPage along with nearly two dozen property ownership and management companies based all over the country. The companies include Equity Residential, Avenue5 and Greystar, which claims to be “the nation’s largest apartment operator,” among others.

Each case seeks class-action status on behalf of people who have rented from the named companies in recent years.