Conn. joins lawsuit against 6 landlord companies, accusing them of keeping rent high

Connecticut has joined nine other states and the Department of Justice in an antitrust lawsuit, accusing six landlords of keeping rent prices high.

At a time where prices keep going up – from food to gas – rent is no exception.

"It literally takes up half my paycheck every single month,” said one tenant we spoke with.

"I think it’s a systemic issue,” said another tenant.

Now, the state is taking notice.

Attorney General William Tong is in part placing the blame on competing landlord companies, alleging they’re speaking with each other about rent prices and sharing information verbally and through a software called RealPage.

"This is why we have antitrust laws. This is why we don't want big companies working together to set prices at an artificially high rate,” said Tong. He says three out of the six landlords operate multiple apartment complexes right here in Connecticut.

Those are Greystar, Pinnacle, and Willow Bridge.

"We want the market to work people to compete. We want people to be able to shop around. We want prices to come down, not to go up,” said Tong.

In a statement to NBC Connecticut, Pinnacle's owner, Cushman & Wakefield. said they believe revenue management software can help property owners efficiently manage rents. They say in part:

“…Pinnacle is solely a property manager and does not own any properties or set strategy, pricing, or occupancy targets. We also do not decide whether the properties managed by Pinnacle use revenue management services and software, which software provider to use, if any, and whether to accept recommendations provided by such software.”

Greystar is also responding to the lawsuit, saying in a statement:

We are disappointed that the DOJ added us and other operators to their lawsuit against RealPage. Greystar has and will conduct its business with the utmost integrity. At no time did Greystar engage in any anti-competitive practices. We will vigorously defend ourselves in this lawsuit.

In a statement to NBC Connecticut, RealPage said their software is legally compliant. They say less than 10 percent of rental housing units in the United States use RealPage to suggest rent, and their recommendations are accepted less than half the time. They say in part: 

It does not make sense to now sue these, or any, property management companies using RealPage, as our software was purposely built to be legally compliant. It’s past time to stop scapegoating RealPage - and now our customers - for housing affordability problems when the root cause of high housing costs is the under-supply of housing which we have been saying from the beginning.   

In learning about the lawsuit, tenants of one of the complexes we spoke with say these allegations are alarming if true.

"I think more states need to join in on this,” said one tenant.

"It makes me feel uneasy, I don't trust people,” said another tenant. “I have no control over it, and I’m expected to pay,” she said.

Those tenants will continue paying as this lawsuit plays out. Tong’s hope is eventually their rent prices will come down.

Willow Bridge has not yet responded to NBC Connecticut’s request for comment.