New Jersey bans RealPage-style algorithmic rent-setting
August 17, 2026
New Jersey becomes fourth state to ban algorithmic price setting software, such as Thoma Bravo’s RealPage
On July 20, New Jersey joined California, New York, and Connecticut to become the fourth state to ban landlords’ use of algorithmic software, like RealPage, to set rents. Specifically, the New Jersey law, Forbidding the Algorithmic Inflation of Rent (FAIR) Act, prohibits landlords from sharing sensitive pricing and vacancy data that feeds these algorithms and enables landlords to coordinate rent increases.
The private equity firm Thoma Bravo purchased RealPage in 2021. RealPage has been under heavy scrutiny since a 2022 expose by Pro Publica about the software’s impact on the housing market. Since then, there have been more than 30 class action lawsuits brought by renters against RealPage, as well as anti-trust lawsuits from a number of state Attorneys General and the U.S. Department of Justice, accusing RealPage of allowing landlords to align their prices and avoid competition.
New Jersey
“The problem is that these tools put competing landlords on the same team against renters,” New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill said at the bill signing. “Landlords can use these algorithms to coordinate prices, move in lockstep, and push rent higher and higher. It’s collusion by algorithm, and it’s illegal, and it stacks the deck against renters.”
The labor union SEIU 32BJ advocated for the bill’s passage since many of the union’s members struggle to keep up with rent increases. “The housing crisis wasn’t created by algorithms, but algorithms are contributing to it,” said Ana Maria Hill, the union’s state director. “Today, we are saying no to them.”
New Jersey and several other states continue to pursue antitrust lawsuits against RealPage and large landlords accused of using algorithm-based pricing software to coordinate rent increases. “Rents in New Jersey are already far too high,” said state Attorney General Jennifer Davenport. “But when landlords and tech companies conspire to artificially inflate rents, they make it even more difficult for hardworking New Jerseyans to find housing they can afford.”
A recent Newsweekarticle reported that lawmakers in 21 states have “introduced, advanced or enacted legislation aimed at restricting the use of algorithmic rent-setting software.”
New York passed a statewide ban on RealPage and similar software last October. A statement about the legislation released on the Governor’s website stated that “recent data shows that price fixing algorithms cost tenants nationwide an estimated $3.8 billion more in inflated rents last year alone.” The statement continued, stating that algorithm software companies “make no secret that private data algorithms are intended to drive rent increases, with some openly advertising that they can help property owners outperform the market, resulting in housing market distortion and hurting tenants during a historic housing supply and affordability crisis.”
New York’s ban on RealPage came several weeks after California passed legislation that updated the state’s anti-trust law, the Cartwright Act, to include software such as RealPage, and
The sponsor of the bill, Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, said, “I authored AB325 to make sure our laws keep up with the times and protect Californians form corporate cheaters. Whether prices are fixed in a backroom or by using technology, it’s still breaking the rules.”
On the same day that AB325 was signed into law, Governor Gavin Newsom also signed SB763, which imposes higher penalties on corporations found in violation of the Cartwright Act.
