Tennessee joins settlement against Greystar over ‘anticompetitive’ rent pricing scheme

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee has joined a multistate settlement proposal with the nation’s largest property management firm over allegations it unfairly rigged their prices for rental units.

According to Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office, the proposed settlement with Greystar Management Services, LLC, resolves allegations of “anticompetitive practices that resulted in artificially-increased rents” for renters in Tennessee.

The property management giant reached a non-monetary settlement consent decree with 9 states, including Tennessee, according to the AG’s office.

An investigation from a bipartisan coalition looked into Greystar’s participation in an “algorithmic pricing scheme” that allowed multiple property management companies to share their supply and pricing data among each other through a service called RealPage.

RealPage is a revenue management software utilized by many property management companies, including Greystar.

By sharing the sensitive renal data, the states alleged the property management companies were able to artificially inflate and align their rental prices, thus reducing competition in the multi-family residential rental market.

Greystar alone operates nearly 950,000 rental units nationwide, including more than 6,000 in Tennessee.

The AG’s office said the proposed settlement represents one step in broader enforcement efforts, as they continue to pursue legal action against RealPage and four other property management companies.

“Tennessee renters were stuck paying too much because property management companies shared information through the RealPage software to artificially inflate prices,” Skrmetti said in a release. “It’s not fair, it’s not right, and we are putting a stop to it by holding these companies accountable.”

The proposed consent decree, if approved by the Court, would require Greystar to do the following:

• Refrain from using any anticompetitive algorithm that generates pricing recommendations using its competitors’ competitively sensitive data or that incorporates certain anticompetitive features;
• Refrain from sharing competitively sensitive information with competitors;
• Accept a court-appointed monitor if it uses a third-party pricing algorithm that is not certified pursuant to the terms of the consent decree;
• Refrain from attending or participating in RealPage-hosted meetings of competing landlords; and
• Cooperate with the coalition’s claims against RealPage

Tennessee joined in the proposed settlement with California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Oregon, according to the attorney general.