Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Justice Department settles info sharing and algorithmic coordination claims against landlord, (Jul 7, 2026)

By Peter Reap, J.D., LL.M.

Proposed settlement requires Willow Bridge, one of America’s largest landlords, to refrain from sharing competitively sensitive information with competitors and from using anticompetitive algorithms.

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has announced a proposed settlement in the form of a Proposed Final Judgment and Stipulation and Order with one of America’s largest landlords, Willow Bridge Property Company LLC, to resolve charges that it engaged in an illegal scheme with other landlords using RealPage’s algorithms to set their rents using each other’s competitively sensitive information. Under the deal, Willow Bridge will be barred from sharing competitively sensitive information with competitors and from using anticompetitive algorithms. The proposed settlement builds on the Justice Department’s success in obtaining proposed settlements in the same enforcement action against RealPage Inc. and three other large landlords, Cortland Management LLC, Greystar Management Services LLC, and LivCor LLC (U.S. v. Willow Bridge Property Company, LLC, No. 1:24-cv-00710-WO-JGM (M.D.N.C. Jul. 6, 2026)).

Background. On January 7, 2025, in an antitrust lawsuit against RealPage, a property management software company, the DOJ and several states filed an amended complaint adding six of the nation’s largest landlords as defendants for participating in algorithmic pricing schemes that harmed renters. The amended complaint alleged that Greystar, LivCor, Willow Bridge, Cortland, and two other large landlords participated in an unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords in apartment pricing, harming millions of American renters.

The amended complaint raised 13 claims for relief for violations of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act and relevant state statutes. Plaintiffs requested civil penalties as appropriate for violating the state laws, injunctive relief under Section 16 of the Clayton Act to bar the defendants from engaging in the challenged conduct, attorney fees, and costs. The complaint identified hundreds of geographic submarkets allegedly impacted.

RealPage was alleged to have violated Sec. 1 of the Sherman Act by: (1) unlawfully sharing non-public information, such as pricing and occupancy rates, for use in competing landlords’ pricing; and (2) entering into vertical agreements with landlords to align pricing to the detriment of renters. RealPage’s actions went beyond mere recommendations on prices because it purportedly policed landlords’ compliance with those recommendations.

For their part, the landlords allegedly agreed to provide this information for use by their competitors because they understood they would be able to leverage the sensitive information of their rivals in turn. Along with using RealPage’s anticompetitive pricing algorithms, the landlord defendants coordinated through a variety of other means. These included directly communicating with competitors’ senior managers about rents, occupancy, and other competitively sensitive topics; and participating in “user groups” hosted by RealPage where landlords discussed how to modify the software’s pricing methodology, as well as their own pricing strategies.

The newly announced proposed settlement with Willow Bridge follows previously announced proposed settlements in the same enforcement action against RealPage Inc., Cortland, Greystar, and LivCor LLC. The federal district court issued a final judgement in May resolving the Department of Justice’s claims against RealPage.

The proposed settlement. If approved by the court, the proposed consent decree would require Willow Bridge 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.

A competitive impact statement will be published in the Federal Register, along with the proposed settlement, as required by the Tunney Act.

Enforcer comments. “Affordability for American consumers is only achieved when competition thrives, which requires companies to make independent pricing decisions,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward. “Companies cannot share sensitive data and manipulate AI tools or algorithms to produce market aligned pricing. That is not only illegal, but exploitative of Americans’ everyday housing needs. This Department will not stand for it.”

“Corporate landlords have been destabilizing the rental housing market for too long,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Sarrine of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “The Antitrust Division will remain proactive in taking affirmative measures to stop pricing algorithms from harming renters.”

Attorneys: Henry C. Su, U.S. Department of Justice, for the U.S. Eric Steven Goodheart (DLA Piper LLP) for Willow Bridge Property Company LLC.

Companies: Willow Bridge Property Company LLC; RealPage Inc.; Cortland Management LLC; Greystar Management Services LLC; LivCor LLC

MainStory: TopStory Antitrust AntitrustDivisionNews NorthCarolinaNews GCNNews