Lawsuit Filed Against DC Landlords Alleging Rental Price Collusion

Roughly 25 percent of renters in the District of Columbia spend more than 50 percent of their incomes on rent, the lawsuit said.

A banner against renters' eviction reading "No Job, No Rent" is displayed on a controlled-rent building in Washington on Aug. 9, 2020. Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images

The District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the region’s prominent landlords, accusing them of using price-setting technology to “artificially raise rents.”

On Wednesday, D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb announced a lawsuit against “14 of the largest residential landlords in the District” and property management software firm RealPage for “colluding to illegally raise rents for tens of thousands of DC residents.” The lawsuit alleges that the landlords collectively delegated the authority to set rent prices to RealPage, which allegedly used its centralized pricing algorithm to “inflate prices.”