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States Urge Judge to Reject $141 Million Rent-Price Settlement with Property Managers

By  |  November 3, 2025

Attorneys general from the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Kentucky are pushing back against a proposed $141 million settlement that would resolve federal claims accusing major property managers of colluding to inflate apartment rents. According to Reuters, the state officials filed a motion on Friday in federal court in Tennessee, warning that the proposed agreements could undermine their ongoing state-level enforcement actions.

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    The states are pursuing separate lawsuits against many of the same landlords, including Greystar, alleging they used revenue management software developed by RealPage to coordinate and raise rental prices. Per Reuters, the officials cautioned U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. that approving the settlements could interfere with their ability to pursue independent legal actions. The judge has yet to approve the proposed deals.

    Greystar, one of the country’s largest property management firms, agreed earlier this month to pay $50 million as part of the proposed resolution, according to Reuters. Plaintiffs also reached smaller settlements with 25 other defendants, though RealPage and numerous others continue to fight the claims. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said his office “will continue to take every step to ensure that New Jersey renters are protected, including from resolutions in other lawsuits.”

    The defendants, including RealPage, have denied any wrongdoing. In a separate filing on Saturday, Greystar and other settling companies indicated they plan to respond in court to “correct legal and factual assertions made by those Attorneys General.”

    Patrick Coughlin, a lead attorney for the renters, said his team appreciates the states’ efforts but argued that “ours is a much larger case and has far greater implications,” defending the settlement terms as strong. The renters’ class action, filed in 2023, accused some of the nation’s biggest landlords of using RealPage’s pricing software to artificially raise rents above competitive market levels.

    According to Reuters, the four states have filed their own lawsuits targeting RealPage and major landlords within their jurisdictions. The District of Columbia’s case appears to be the most advanced, with a trial scheduled for March 2027. In their filing, the attorneys general described the proposed settlements as offering “meager monetary relief” and failing to address key anticompetitive behavior alleged in the lawsuits.

    They urged Judge Crenshaw to avoid granting relief that could overlap or conflict with ongoing government actions. The consolidated federal case is titled In re: RealPage Inc Rental Software Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, No. 3:23-md-03071.

    Source: Reuters