In his first major action as North Carolina Attorney General, Jeff Jackson has sued six large property management companies, accusing them of conspiring to keep rent prices above market rates.
"North Carolinians are struggling to afford their rent as it is 鈥� we won鈥檛 stand for landlords and real estate companies making the problem worse to line their own pockets,""I鈥檓 suing these landlords to make sure they play by the rules so North Carolinians can get fair prices for rent."
Jackson, a Democrat who was sworn into office last week, filed the federal suit alongside nine other states and the federal government.
It accuses Greystar Real Estate, LivCor, Camden Property Trust, Cushman and Wakefield, Willow Bridge Property Company, and Cortland Management of using non-public data to artificially inflate rent prices for prospective tenants. The companies control about 70,000 rental units in North Carolina, according to Jackson.
Those landlords were added to an existing lawsuit against RealPage, which runs an algorithm that recommends rental prices to landlords. Prosecutors say the algorithm uses sensitive competitive information, allowing landlords to align their prices and avoid competition that would otherwise push down rents.
Jennifer Bowcock, RealPage's senior vice president for communications, said in a that their software is used on fewer than 10% of rental units in the U.S., and that their price recommendations are used less than half the time.
"It's past time to stop scapegoating RealPage 鈥� and now our customers -- for housing affordability problems when the root cause of high housing costs is the under-supply of housing," Bowcock said.
Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC, a defendant in the case, declined a request for comment from The Associated Press, but published an unsigned statement on its website.
"Greystar has and will conduct its business with the utmost integrity. At no time did Greystar engage in any anti-competitive practices," the statement read. "We will vigorously defend ourselves in this lawsuit."
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
