Apartment for Rent sign.

Apartment-dwellers may get some rental relief after federal officials reached a price-fixing settlement with the nation's largest private landlord: Greystar.

The agreement between the government and South Carolina-based Greystar, which manages about 950,000 units nationally, blocks the company from using computer software blamed for ratcheting up rents. Greystar on Aug. 8 said it had also reached a similar settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought by renters.

Federal attorneys had accused Greystar of using computer algorithms to bump up rents by illegally colluding with other landlords via software known as "RealPage." The software system allowed landlords to privately share their proprietary pricing data with each other so they could raise prices collectively.

Federal attorneys said the collusion maximized profits for landlords while stifling competition. The lawsuit said RealPage users were also collectively encouraged never to lower rents, even if the market had softened.

"American greatness has always depended on free-market competition, and nowhere is competition more important than in making housing affordable again," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

In the settlement with Greystar, which still needs approval from a federal judge, Justice Department attorneys said the use of RealPage by Greystar was modern-day price fixing. They did not estimate the impact on renters, but in one legal filing noted an apartment complex boasted of using RealPage systems to raise rents 25% in a single year, while also getting their competitors to raise theirs.

"Whether in a smoke-filled room or through an algorithm, competitors cannot share competitively sensitive information or align prices to the detriment of American consumers," Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater said in a statement.

Greystar admitted no wrongdoing in settling the case, but agreed to help federal prosecutors in their separate ongoing investigation into RealPage. Greystar also agreed to external monitoring if it uses an unapproved third-party algorithm to help set prices.

"We entered into these settlements to make clear the government's interpretation of the law and to ensure we continue to do things the right way," Greystar officials said in a statement.

In a separate lawsuit that remains pending, the FTC and the state of Colorado have accused Greystar of tricking customers into signing misleading leases with higher rents than advertised, stacking in undisclosed fees, or charging people a nonrefundable application fee before revealing the true monthly rental price.

Federal officials have hinted they may soon settle that case, and Greystar has already rolled out a new website and rent-pricing calculator for prospective tenants.

This story has been updated with new information.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nation's largest landlord, Greystar, settles price-fixing suit with feds

Reporting by Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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