The Justice Department says that property owners did greater than use RealPage in the alleged pricing scheme. “Together with making use of RealPage’s anticompetitive prices algorithms, these property managers coordinated via a selection of means,” such as “directly connecting with competitors’ elderly managers regarding rental fees, occupancy, and other competitively sensitive topics,” the DOJ said.
There were “call arounds” in which “residential or commercial property managers called or emailed rivals to share, and sometimes discuss, competitively sensitive details regarding rents, tenancy, rates strategies and discount rates,” the DOJ claimed.
Landlords reviewed their use RealPage software application with each various other, the DOJ said. “For instance, proprietors gone over through customer teams how to modify the software’s prices method, as well as their very own rates approaches,” the DOJ said. “In one example, LivCor and Willow Bridge execs participated in a customer group discussion of plans for renewal increases, giving ins and approval rates of RealPage rent out referrals.”
DOJ: Companies talked about “auto-accept” settings
The DOJ lawsuit says RealPage presses clients to utilize “auto-accept settings” that instantly accept pricing referrals. The DOJ said today that residential or commercial property rental companies went over exactly how they use those settings.
“As an instance, at the demand of Willow Bridge’s supervisor of earnings management, Greystar’s supervisor of earnings management provided its conventional auto-accept criteria for RealPage’s software program, including the daily and regular limits and the days of the week for which Greystar utilized ‘auto-accept,'” the DOJ claimed.
Greystar issued a statement saying it is “dissatisfied that the DOJ added us and various other operators to their lawsuit versus RealPage,” which it will “intensely” defend itself in court. “Greystar has and will perform its service with the utmost honesty. At no time did Greystar participate in any type of anti-competitive practices,” the company stated.
The Justice Division is taken part the situation by the attorney generals of the United States of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington. The case is in US District Court for the Center District of North Carolina.