The companies being sued own or manage 70,000 units in North Carolina, including one-third of the apartments in the state’s most populous cities.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. โ North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson sued a half-dozen large companies that manage thousands of apartments and other homes for allegedly colluding to raise rents instead of competing with each other in a fair market.ย
The six landlords are Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC, Blackstone’s LivCor LLC, Camden Property Trust, Cushman & Wakefield Inc. and Pinnacle Property Management Services, LLC, Willow Bridge Property Company LLC and Cortland Management LLC. These firms own or manage more than 70,000 units throughout North Carolina, including the Charlotte market. The lawsuit alleges these landlords bilked renters out of millions of dollars through collusion.ย
Eight other states and the U.S. Department of Justice are part of the lawsuit, which began when now Gov. Josh Stein was attorney general. Jackson was sworn in as attorney general on Wednesday.ย
“North Carolinians are struggling to afford their rent as it is โ we wonโt stand for landlords and real estate companies making the problem worse to line their own pockets,โ Jackson said in a press release. “I’m suing these landlords to make sure they play by the rules so North Carolinians can get fair prices for rent.”
The lawsuit is part of an ongoing case against the software company RealPage, which is being sued for allegedly exploiting landlords’ competitively sensitive information to create a pricing algorithm that violates antitrust laws and enriches the companies at the expense of renters. Tuesday’s court filing was broadened to include the six real estate companies.ย
None of the companies being sued are based in North Carolina, but Jackson said they manage thousands of units in Charlotte, Raleigh and Durham-Chapel Hill.ย
The lawsuit claims the typical American renter without a college degree paid 30% of their income for rent. By 2017, that had risen to 42%. For college graduates, the number increased from 25% in 2000 to 34% in 2017.ย
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