The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division filed a proposed consent decree today to resolve the United States’ claims against Pinnacle Property Management Services LLC, as part of its ongoing enforcement action in the Middle District of North Carolina against algorithmic coordination, the use of competitors’ competitively sensitive data, and other anticompetitive practices in rental markets across the country that artificially increase housing costs for the American people. Today’s proposed decree builds on the Justice Department’s success in obtaining settlements in the same enforcement action against RealPage Inc. and four other large landlords, Cortland Management LLC, Greystar Management Services LLC, LivCor LLC, and Willow Bridge Property Company LLC.
“This administration will not tolerate illegal actions by corporate landlords that inflate housing prices for Americans,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. “The Department of Justice will fight for every American who is being taken advantage of by corporate greed.”
“The Antitrust Division is diligent in our work of protecting consumers in housing markets, including by putting an end to practices by corporate landlords that illegally prevent honest competition that benefits renters,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Sarrine of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “This consent decree is an important step in achieving affordable housing for Americans.”
The United States, along with state co-plaintiffs, filed a complaint on Jan. 7, 2025, alleging that Pinnacle, with five other co-defendant landlords, actively participated in a scheme to set their rents using each other’s competitively sensitive information through pricing algorithms. Pinnacle and other landlords shared competitively sensitive data to generate pricing recommendations using RealPage’s algorithms, which also included anticompetitive rules that aligned pricing. Pinnacle and other landlords also conferred on competitively sensitive topics, such as pricing strategies, rents, and selected parameters for RealPage’s software.
If approved by the court, the proposed consent decree would require Pinnacle to:
- Refrain from using any anticompetitive algorithm that generates pricing recommendations using its competitors’ competitively sensitive data or that incorporates certain anticompetitive features;
- Refrain from sharing competitively sensitive information with competitors;
- Accept a court-appointed monitor if it uses a third-party pricing algorithm that is not certified pursuant to the terms of the consent decree;
- Refrain from attending or participating in RealPage-hosted meetings of competing landlords; and
- Cooperate with the United States’ claims against other defendants.
As required by the Tunney Act, the proposed settlement, along with a competitive impact statement, will be published in the Federal Register. Any interested person should submit written comments concerning the proposed settlement within 60 days following the publication to Danielle Hauck, Acting Chief, Technology and Digital Platforms Section, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 450 Fifth Street NW, Suite 7050, Washington, DC 20530. At the conclusion of the public comment period, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina may enter the final judgment upon finding it is in the public interest.
Pinnacle is a residential property manager headquartered in Frisco, Texas.
Note: Read the Proposed Final Judgement here, the Stipulation and Order here, the Explanation of Procedures here, and the Competitive Impact Statement here.
