Colorado reaches settlement with landlord giant Greystar in price-fixing lawsuit

Colorado and several other states have reached a million settlement with one of America s largest landlords over a lawsuit that accused the company and its peers of using program to illegally coordinate rent prices When corporate landlords share private evidence and use algorithms to coordinate and jack up rent prices renters pay the price Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser mentioned in a comment Tuesday announcing the agreement This settlement sends a clear message We will not tolerate practices that enable collusion harm competition and make housing less affordable for Coloradans The proposed settlement with Greystar was filed Tuesday morning and still necessities final approval from the federal judge overseeing the event which was initially filed last year Under the deal s terms Colorado would receive more than million to patronage antitrust enforcement consumer protection work and related investigations Weiser s office mentioned Greystar would also be prohibited from using any revenue management application that incorporates nonpublic competitively sensitive figures from other landlords to generate pricing recommendations The rest of the money would be distributed among the other eight states that are part of the lawsuit Greystar is the largest landlord in the country according to Reuters and it reached a separate million settlement last month to end another price-fixing lawsuit brought by tenants Weiser s office previously disclosed the company operates more than units in Colorado alone Greystar did not right now respond to a request for comment The suit was initially filed by the the U S Department of Justice and Weiser against RealPage the company that makes the rent-setting system used by Greystar and other property management companies Greystar and several other large property owners were added to the suit in January Related Articles Colorado ethics commission votes to investigate complaints against state lawmakers Colorado s top electoral contest official wants to know what Trump administration is doing with voter roll statistics Douglas County tutor arrested by ICE leaves country with family Affordability tops concerns for Colorado Latinos but criticism mounts for immigration crackdown In Colorado governor s race two heavy-hitting Democrats cleared the primary field But the fight s just starting Greystar settled with the Justice Department in August RealPage s program has been broadly criticized for allegedly enabling price fixing and hiking rents higher than they otherwise would be charges the company has denied Last year the Biden administration declared that Denver renters who lived in properties that used RealPage s utility paid more than in additional rent every year Colorado lawmakers have repeatedly attempted to ban the use of RealPage s tool in the state A first attempt in failed in the state Senate Democratic lawmakers tried again this year and successfully passed the bill only for Gov Jared Polis to veto it The state previously reached a settlement with one of the other property owners in April The rest of the litigation remains ongoing Weiser s office is also still suing Greystar in a separate matter over alleged hidden fees and misleading advertising though court filings indicate settlement talks are ongoing Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot