U.S. renters are taking corporate landlords to court for collusion
U.S. landlords who use RealPage products to set prices on rental apartments are facing accusations of collusion.
Same shit in my area. I've asked landlords why they're increasing rents and they say things like "well based on local prices and value of the property...." I've asked multiple what makes them think that and it's always "we have software that estimates what our units are worth". So now any landlord raises rent and they all raise rent in unison. No renovations or new perks to the property. It's just "well someone else hiked rent this year so now your new lease does too".
Same. Also, valuing the apartment as a condo when it is in fact not a fucking condo.
Value of the property? Lol. You can find that in the public records and good chance they already paid off the loan they used to buy/build the property. Meaning the landlords profit margin is greater than 50%. Profit margins should be capped at whatever the federal interest rates are because otherwise landlords can claim anything from the increase in rent.
The company has filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the decision, stating that the decision could result in millions of dollars in refunds for tenants.
It's the same thing here in Minnesota too. I just signed a lease, and they told me if I signed it quickly I could guarantee that price but the software recalculates it every month. I didn't sign it in time, and rent went up $75 for nothing. It's a 50-year-old building and hasn't been renovated recently.
My rent is up to $4/sqft/mo.
But that's because I moved and it reset to 'market value'. Rental increases are tied to inflation in this region, enshrined in the law.
People are talking about AI moving is forward as a species, diagnosing diseases, etc.
Nah. Of course it would first be deployed to ream renters so the owning class can get richer
Flood small claims court with this stuff. I did my part.
