2 DC landlords to pay $9.3 million over alleged price-fixing scheme settlement – WTOP News

The D.C. attorney general announced Monday that two landlords will pay over $9 million as part of a settlement agreement after they allegedly conspired with other landlords to inflate rental prices for District tenants.

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D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said the settlement is to resolve an antitrust lawsuit where JBG Associates LLC (JBG Smith) and Mid-America Apartments will pay $9.3 million after illegally conspiring with other landlords to increase rent prices for thousands of D.C. apartment units using RealPage Inc.’s pricing software.

“District residents face severe housing affordability challenges, and yet some of the largest residential landlords made things worse by illegally colluding to artificially push rents even higher,” Schwalb said in a news release. “My office will continue to use the law to make sure that DC’s housing market is fair and competitive, that law-abiding landlords can compete on a level playing field, and that DC residents who want to live in the District can afford to live here.”

In the District, many apartments were priced using RealPage, which offers services that include revenue management to real estate owners and property managers, Schwalb’s office said. They rely on RealPage’s “nonpublic, competitively sensitive pricing data” that it receives from owners and managers, which RealPage uses to generate an “inflated rental price” based on the supply and demand of apartments in that particular area, according to the D.C. Office of the Attorney General.

Schwalb’s office alleges that JBG Smith, which owns over 4,500 units, used RealPage’s revenue management software to set rent prices for multiple D.C. apartments and Mid-America Apartments, which owns 269 units, used it to set rent for one of its properties. Both companies then allegedly collaborated with 12 other defendant landlords, where they shared sensitive, private company data to avoid “direct competition and delegating rent-setting authority to RealPage,” Schwalb’s office further alleged.

As part of the settlements, both landlords will agree to these terms:

• JBG Smith will pay $8.1 million and Mid-America Apartments will pay $1.2 million in civil penalties and legal fees to impacted residents.
• Change their rent-setting practices by prohibiting the use of revenue management software that relies on private and confidential data.
• Will not encourage other landlords to use revenue management software or promote it and to accept the recommended prices.
• Stop sharing private information with other landlords.

If JBG Smith and Mid-America Apartments are found to be violating the settlement terms, then the D.C. Office of the Attorney General said it has the authority to appoint an “Independent Monitor” to assess the companies’ compliance and determine how to address the violations. The independent monitors will also be at the companies’ expense.

Editor’s note: WTOP has reached out to JBG Smith and Mid-America Apartments for comment.

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