> It is only illegal to make agreements with other parties to price fix.
Conveniently, all of the landlords participating in the conspiracy had some kind of service agreement with RealPage/YieldStar, which appears to equate to an agreement to fix prices.
That depends on the service agreement. It seems like there are different services.
One where RealPage gives you a recommended price and you are free to choose whatever price you want. They might ask you something along the lines of "why didnt you use our price?"
The other is the AutoPilot feature, where RealPage "takes the wheel" and set/publishes the listing price for you based on their model.
I think the first case is pretty clearly legal, and the second has some valid concerns.
The point of both services is to help landlords maximize profit, but that isnt illegal by itself.
The first example is still a crime, but the landlords probably have deniability, whereas RealPage is still very much attempting to create a pricing cartel, which is illegal. The second one is a conspiracy to defraud and a violation of antitrust law.
> The point of both services is to help landlords maximize profit, but that isnt illegal by itself.
No, it's immoral, which is why lawsuits and regulation are coming.
I guess we just have different understanding. I dont think the first example is a crime, any more than getting an appraisal for a house or good you want to sell.
With respect to the latter, I dont think there is anything immoral about maximizing profit by legal means. The counterparty isn't owed anything.
Leaving housing stock vacant in order to maximize your rents by artificially inflating demand is absolutely immoral and is sometimes (should always be) illegal. In this (the US) democracy the good faith assumption is that regular people get a fair deal - if that assumption goes away, things get ugly.
Conveniently, all of the landlords participating in the conspiracy had some kind of service agreement with RealPage/YieldStar, which appears to equate to an agreement to fix prices.