RealPage sues California city officials over rental algorithm ban
[April 03, 2025] By
R.J. RICO
Real estate software company RealPage filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday
against Berkeley, California — the latest city to try to block landlords
from using algorithms when deciding rents. Officials in many cities
claim the practice is anti-competitive and is driving up the price of
housing.
Texas-based RealPage said Berkeley's ordinance, which goes into effect
this month violates the company's free speech rights and is the result
of an “intentional campaign of misinformation and often-repeated false
claims” about its products.
“Berkeley is trying to enact an ordinance that prohibits speech — speech
in the form of advice and recommendations from RealPage to its
customers,” RealPage attorney Stephen Weissman told reporters on a
conference call.
The Department of Justice sued Realpage in August under former President
Joe Biden, saying its algorithm combines confidential information from
each real estate management company in ways that enable landlords to
align prices and avoid competition that would otherwise push down rents.
That amounts to cartel-like illegal price collusion, prosecutors said.
RealPage's clients include huge landlords who collectively oversee
millions of units across the U.S.
In the lawsuit, the DOJ pointed to RealPage executives’ own words about
how their product maximizes prices for landlords. One executive said,
“There is greater good in everybody succeeding versus essentially trying
to compete against one another in a way that actually keeps the entire
industry down.”
San Francisco, Philadelphia and Minneapolis have since passed ordinances
restricting landlords from using rental algorithms. The DOJ case remains
ongoing, as do lawsuits against RealPage brought by tenants and the
attorneys general of Arizona and Washington, D.C.
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 Berkeley's ordinance, which fines
violators up to $1,000 per infraction, says algorithmic rental
software has contributed to “double-digit rent increases ... higher
vacancy rates and higher rates of eviction.”
RealPage said all these claims are false, and that the real driver
of high rents is a lack of housing supply.
The company also denies providing “price fixing
software” or a “coordinated pricing algorithm,” saying its pricing
recommendations — higher, lower or no change — align with whatever
property-specific objectives the housing providers want to achieve
using the software.
And since landlords already are incentivized to maximize revenue,
RealPage argues that real estate management software can show them
how best to maintain high occupancy, and this in turn reduces
constraints on the supply of homes.
The lawsuit accuses American Economic Liberties Project, an advocacy
group that opposes monopolistic practices, of spreading falsehoods
that have caused local officials to pursue misguided policies.
“AELP’s false narrative has taken root in certain municipalities
that are particularly eager to find a scapegoat for their own hand
in impeding the housing supply,” the lawsuit said.
Weissman said RealPage officials were never given an opportunity to
present their arguments to the Berkeley City Council before the
ordinance was passed and said the company is considering legal
action against other cities that have passed similar policies,
including San Francisco.
A spokesperson for Berkeley City Council did not comment on the
lawsuit and said officials had not been formally served with the
complaint. A spokesperson for the AELP did not immediately reply to
a request for comment.
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