Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown launched a lawsuit against RealPage and six large landlords for allegedly raising rents through a price-fixing scheme in violation of the state’s Antitrust Act.
Montgomery County Council Vice President Will Jawando thanked Brown in a social media tweet, stating “I’m grateful to @oagmaryland for launching a lawsuit against RealPage and six of the largest landlords for illegally raising rents of thousands of Maryland residents through a price-fixing scheme. This is an issue I have followed closely, and I am glad to see action this week.”
In a news release, Brown announced the lawsuit against RealPage, Inc. and six landlords “for colluding to illegal raise rents for hundreds of thousands of Maryland residents.”
According to Brown, the landlords allowed RealPage to set their rent prices. “RealPage used a centralized pricing algorithm to inflate prices, costing renters millions of dollars. The lawsuit is one of several lodged by government agencies—including the United States Department of Justice—against RealPage and its landlord users,” Brown wrote.
RealPage and Morgan Properties Management Company, LLC, Bozzuto Management Company, Greystar Management Services, LLC, AvalonBay Communities, Inc., UDR, Inc. and Highmark Residential, LLC worked together to raise of the cost of their apartments, Brown alleged.
Morgan Properties has rental units in Silver Spring and Olney. Bozzuto has units in Silver Spring, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Wheaton, Potomac, Germantown, Gaithersburg and Derwood.
Greystar has properties in Silver Spring and Bethesda. AvalonBay has units in Silver Spring and Wheaton. Highmark has properties in Gaithersburg, Silver Spring and Montgomery Village.
According to Brown, RealPage offers a variety of technology-based services to real estate owners and property managers, including “Revenue Management” products that “use non-public, competitively sensitive data—for example, the number of potential tenant visits to a property—to estimate supply and demand, and then generate a “price” to charge that maximizes the landlord’s revenue.”
The company’s Revenue Management technology set rents for more than 100,000 apartments across Maryland, according to Brown.
I'm grateful to @oagmaryland for launching a lawsuit against RealPage and six of the largest landlords for illegally raising rents of thousands of Maryland residents through a price-fixing scheme. This is an issue I have followed closely, and I am glad to see action this week.…
— Councilmember Will Jawando (@CMJawando) January 17, 2025
