U.S. Senator Tina Smith’s Statement on Attorney General Ellison’s Settlement with Nation’s Largest Landlord for Artificially Inflating Rental Prices

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Today, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), top Democrat on the Senate Housing Subcommittee, released the following statement after Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellisonannounceda $7 million settlement with the nation’s largest landlord, Greystar, as part of his ongoing litigation against property management software company RealPage.
“When everything is already so unaffordable, cheating by artificially inflating rent adds insult to injury. These corporate landlords will do anything to pad their pockets and that’s why I’m so appreciative of Attorney General Ellison’s work to bring accountability for Minnesota renters,”said Senator Smith.“I’m pushing legislation to ban these practices nationwide and empower renters. Landlords should be competing on price, lease terms and amenities, not illegally colluding to keep prices high.”
RealPage is accused of using confidential information from landlords such as Greystar in order to inflate rental prices and decrease competition in the free market. Minnesota is expected to receive approximately $500,000 in the settlement.
Smith is a co-sponsor of theEnd Rent Fixing Act, legislation that would crack down on landlords that collude to set prices with software and price-setting algorithms.
In addition to the monetary payment to the states as a result of Attorney General Ellison’s lawsuit, the proposed consent decree, if approved by the court, would require Greystar to:
Earlier this year, Smith joined aneffortto press RealPage to answer for its multi-million dollar lobbying campaign for a provision that would have shielded them from state or local laws regulating improper use of artificial intelligence. She has alsopressedRealPage about its algorithmic pricing software and its role in driving up rents across the country.
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