By Brent Ruffner | Daily Independent
Officials are mum on an ongoing court case that could determine how Valley rental rates are calculated after numerous claims at the state and federal level that properties may be colluding with one another in an effort to keep rents high.
In a variety of lawsuits, parties allege landlords who own, operate and manage multifamily apartments were using a software provided by Texas-based company RealPage — a third-party business that is alleged to help set higher prices on rents in multifamily apartment complexes through analytics.
In February, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office sued RealPage and residential landlords for what the office alleges is an illegal price-fixing conspiracy, according to a press release.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office lawsuit alleges 10 landlords in Phoenix and Tucson “conspired to enrich themselves during a period when inflation was at historic highs and Arizona renters struggled to keep up” with rent increases, the press release stated.
“The illegal practices of the defendants led to artificially inflated rental prices and caused Phoenix- and Tucson-area residents to pay millions of dollars more in rent,” the press release stated.
The lawsuit was filed on Feb. 28 in Maricopa County Superior Court.
“RealPage promises that by joining up, participants can continually outpace the market in good times and bad,” the lawsuit states. “Outpace is code for charging higher prices than what would be charged in a market untainted by collusion. This is price fixing, and it is illegal.”
Patrick Coughlin, an attorney with Scott & Scott in San Diego, works for the plaintiffs in a separate federal lawsuit against RealPage.
Scott & Scott investigated RealPage after ProPublica — an investigative journalism news outlet — came out with a story in October 2022, Coughlin said.
ProPublica reported the U.S. Department of Justice had opened an investigation of RealPage in 2022.
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