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Rent monopoly crackdown continues as FBI raids corporate landlord for 18 Arizona properties (coppercourier.com)

submitted 3 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Federal agents raided a property management company operating in Arizona as part of an investigation into price-fixing rent, marking a distinct escalation in the renewed push to enforce consumer protection laws.

Cortland, an Atlanta-based property management company, joins nine other real estate conglomerates under investigation for creating a rental monopoly, resulting in rents across Arizona going up by more than 30% since 2022. The common thread between the 10 is RealPages, a co-defendant and consulting firm whose software they utilized to determine the maximum amount rent could be raised, then doing so in tandem in a manner Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has characterized as monopolistic.

“The conspiracy allegedly engaged in by RealPage and these landlords has harmed Arizonans and directly contributed to Arizona’s affordable housing crisis,” said Mayes. “This conspiracy stifled fair competition and essentially established a rental monopoly in our state’s two largest metro areas.”

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[–] boydster@sh.itjust.works 19 points 3 months ago

REACH OUT TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVES

Hello,

It has recently been widely reported that the FBI raided a corporate landlord in Arizona due to their use of RealPage to engage in price-fixing. I have reason to believe that RealPage has been used by landlords in [state] as well, so I am curious to know if [state] renters that may have been victimized by landlords using RealPage will also be able to depend on our elected officials to step in and enforce the consumer protection laws that we need in order to fight back against the wildly predatory price increases we have been experiencing from so many different directions. Please tell me this is an issue where the real people of [state], and not the corporations that speak far too loudly with their dollars, have our representatives behind our backs.

When and if wrongdoing is found, can we also expect to be fairly and fully compensated for the greedflation that landlords stole? And if those costs are too high for a particular landlord to bear, perhaps ownership of the effected properties should instead be transferred to the government to establish more low-income housing facilities and in doing so, help address crises in housing, homeless, and skyrocketing costs. What if we start treating corporations with the same uncaring hand they treat consumers, instead of handling them with kid-gloves? Can [state] citizens count on your support in keeping our people, not our corporations, as your top priority?

Respectfully, [name]