• A group of lawsuits accuse large landlords of price-fixing the market rate of rent in the United States
  • A complaint filed by Washington D.C.’s Attorney General alleges 14 landlords in the district are sharing competitively sensitive data through RealPage, a real estate software provider
  • RealPage recommends prices for roughly 4.5 million housing units in the United States
  • RealPage told CNBC that its landlord customers are under no obligation to take their price suggestions

A group of renters in the U.S. say their landlords are using software to deliver inflated rent hikes.

“We’ve been told as tenants by employees of Equity that the software takes empathy out of the equation. So they can charge whatever the software tells them to charge,” said Kevin Weller, a tenant at Portside Towers since 2021.

Tenants say the management started to increase prices substantially after giving renters concessions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

  • Adalast@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    9 months ago

    It is honestly not. Property ownership is currently the primary method for being able to collateralize small business loans. Without the general populace having access to that, that initial step for starting a new business or pursuing a venture before it is viable for investment becomes VERY difficult to achieve. Especially if it is something that requires a lot of involvement or time to get moving. Once you take out the ability to make a startup or small business, you are left with an ever-dwindling pool of options and end up in a persistent state of monopoly it oligopoly for most goods and services, which in turn leads to an utter stagnation of economic conveyance and growth.

    Another way it stagnates economic growth is in the increased expense associated with housing. The actual economy, not the BS we are told is the economy, grows when money moves. Individuals and companies buying goods and services from each other. That only happens with disposable income. If everyone is paying 2x what they would in rent that they would in ownership, that comes out of their disposable income. This leads to less luxury (in an economic sense) purchasing and, in many cases, restricted necessity purchasing. So less money is available to move, which causes the economy to shrink.

    • merc
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      9 months ago

      becomes VERY difficult to achieve

      Unless there’s another way, like they’ve achieved in European countries where renting is the norm. Their economies didn’t collapse.

      • Adalast@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        Afaik those countries also have rather extensive tenant rights laws, rent control/caps, and a robust entrepreneur support system, like universal health care and generous PTO laws so people can take time to pursue things while minimizing the risks.

        • merc
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          9 months ago

          Yes, and none of them have had their economies collapse.

          • Adalast@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            9 months ago

            Very true, but let’s see that happen in the US, Australia, or New Zealand. Or any of the other dystopian nightmares that capitalists have manipulated into their own private wonderlands.

            • merc
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              9 months ago

              I think you’re overestimating how different those countries are.

              • Adalast@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                9 months ago

                Ummm, I was comparing them as similar, not different. They are all facing identical housing issues and are faced with similar social programs and safety nets.