The corporate has change into a lightning rod in debates about rental pricing software program. It additionally stays the topic of a civil lawsuit over alleged antitrust allegations.
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Rental software program firm RealPage introduced Friday that it obtained phrase the Division of Justice has ended a felony investigation into multifamily rental pricing — although a civil case involving the corporate remains to be ongoing.
In its announcement, RealPage stated that the DOJ “has closed its criminal investigation into pricing practices in the multifamily rental housing industry.” The corporate additionally defended itself, saying it had by no means damaged antitrust guidelines.
“RealPage extensively cooperated with the DOJ throughout its investigation, and we have remained steadfast in our belief that RealPage never violated the antitrust laws,” the assertion added. “Throughout its investigation, the DOJ never identified RealPage as a target of the investigation. We appreciate the DOJ’s recognition that its investigation merited closure.”
The DOJ didn’t instantly reply to Inman’s request for remark Friday, and the company’s web site didn’t embody any statements about closing a felony investigation into multifamily rental pricing.
Information of the now-ended investigation comes simply over two years after a report from ProPublica prompt {that a} RealPage algorithm might have performed a task in driving up rents throughout the U.S. The report targeted on YieldStar, a bit of RealPage software program that the corporate stated on its web site was geared towards “optimizing rent pricing.”
The report helped foment a nationwide debate about rental pricing software program — a debate by which RealPage particularly grew to become a lightning rod. The report additionally sparked dozens of class-action lawsuits from renters, in addition to proposed federal laws that may crack down on the algorithmic pricing of rents. Ultimately, throughout her latest presidential marketing campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris additionally indicated that she wished to tackle hire worth algorithms as a part of her housing platform.
The DOJ ultimately opened a felony investigation in March. When Inman on Friday requested RealPage about earlier reviews of that investigation, and if it’s the identical one which simply ended, firm spokesperson Jennifer Bowcock responded that they’re certainly one and the identical. She additionally reiterated that the corporate was “never identified as a target.”
In August, the DOJ and eight state attorneys normal filed a civil lawsuit in opposition to RealPage. On the time, the DOJ issued an announcement accusing RealPage of utilizing an “unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords in apartment pricing and to monopolize the market for commercial revenue management software that landlords use to price apartments.”
Although RealPage stated Friday that the felony investigation has ended, the DOJ’s civil lawsuit in opposition to the corporate is ongoing. On Tuesday, RealPage filed a movement to dismiss the case. The corporate stated in its movement that the federal government failed “to allege anticompetitive effects in a relevant market” and failed “to allege that RealPage has engaged in exclusionary conduct.” A prolonged supporting doc, additionally filed with the courtroom Tuesday, referred to as the federal government’s allegations “deficient” and “especially egregious.”
The decide overseeing the civil case has not issued a ruling but on RealPage’s movement to dismiss.
In its assertion Friday on the felony investigation, RealPage stated that it “will continue to aggressively defend itself in the remaining, previously filed civil lawsuits, which we believe are wholly without merit.”
“As we have explained, including on our dedicated website, RealPage’s revenue management software is purposely built to be legally compliant, enhances competition throughout the rental housing ecosystem and is highly configurable by our customers,” the assertion added. “RealPage revenue management customers always have total discretion to accept or reject pricing recommendations — and customers regularly exercise that discretion in practice.”
Learn RealPage’s paperwork from Tuesday laying out its case to dismiss the civil lawsuit (if the doc doesn’t seem, refresh the web page):
