The DOJ accused RealPage of unlawfully scheming to undermine competition among landlords and create a monopoly that harms millions of renters.
  • The Department of Justice accused software company RealPage of unlawfully scheming to undermine competition among landlords and create a monopoly that harms millions of renters.
  • RealPage “allows landlords to manipulate, distort, and subvert market forces,” the Justice Department said in the federal civil antitrust lawsuit.
  • Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “Everybody knows the rent is too damn high, and we allege this is one of the reasons why.”
    • subignition@fedia.io
      633·
      20 days ago

      i upvoted you, but if a single downvote is provoking that kind of an edit from you, you really need to take a break from the internet for a while

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      28·
      20 days ago

      AirBnB is a classic example of us Americans taking a great idea and running it in the ground for profit at the expense of society at large.

      What if I have more house than I need and live in a nice area? Rent a room or two out to short-term visitors! I get a little folding money, they get a better and cheaper experience than a hotel.

      Then these fuckers started buying homes strictly to make their little hotels. We have to dial this in, and while I’m often skeptical of solving issues with legislation vs. the free market, we seem to be too stupid to stop paying these parasites.

      It if makes you feel any better, it looks like the bubble has burst on these damned houses, lots of people going to eat shit in the coming years. I hope.

      • seth@lemmy.world
        21·
        20 days ago

        Airbnb was awesome when it was new. For half to a third the cost of a cheap motel, I stayed with several people in their homes and had great experiences each time that I still remember fondly, far better than I would have had alone in unfamiliar places and even better than most of my free Couchsurfing experiences. Both were great resources for a young traveler. Airbnb has steadily downgraded in quality stays while increasing in price but I still prefer an Airbnb to an equivalent cost hotel, it just feels closer to home.

      • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        20 days ago

        It’s a good idea and has it’s place. But see my comment about us Americans taking a good thing and trying to wring every penny out of it, thereby hurting the rest of us.

    • Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip
      11·
      20 days ago

      a lot of cities and neighborhoods ban AirBnB.

      if you have an airbnb problem, should bring it up at a local city council meeting to get shit done or an HoA if you live in an HoA neighborhood . its of the few things that actually do work and has shown to work in places.

    • auzy@lemmy.world
      2·
      18 days ago

      Last one I went to, booked it, got half way there and the owner said they hadn’t approved the booking and tried to blame Airbnb. They tried to get me to tell Airbnb I changed my mind lol

      Another one, we brought ice cream because in the photos there was a freezer. It was completely full of ice though so couldn’t put the ice cream in

      It’s so disappointing that hotels are simply so much better. Airbnb had so much potential

  • Granbo's Holy Hotrod@lemmy.world
    312·
    20 days ago

    “Allows landlords to manipulate…” What are we saying? They shuffle the responsibility of being an asshole onto the software? End of the day landlords were greedy bitch’s.

    • Empricorn@feddit.nlEnglish
      35·
      20 days ago

      I mean, colluding with your competition to keep prices high is against the law. Yeah, they may still call their buddy across town and (illegally) coordinate what price to set the rent at, but the impact of that, vs a business that’s incentivized to keep all prices high to the benefit of them and landlords!? Not even close…

    • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      20 days ago

      They shuffle the responsibility of being an asshole onto the software?

      That’s quite literally it. It’s much easier to raise rents when the magic computer tells you to do it. Then no human in your organization actually has to take responsibility for the decision.

    • lolcatnip@reddthat.comEnglish
      7·
      20 days ago

      I don’t see the problem here. Yes, I’d rather see landlords themselves punished for price fixing, but that’s unlikely to happen because it involves prosecuting a huge number of defendants on charges that are hard to prove. Depriving them of software that’s tailor made to facilitate price fixing seems like a good first step. Who knows, a successful suit against the software company could end to making it a lot easier to sue the landlords who used it.

  • Shirasho@lemmings.world
    15·
    20 days ago

    If you want more reasons to hate landlords head over to the r/landlords subreddit. The people there are some of the nastiest, heartless people you will ever see.

    • jwt@programming.dev
      1·
      20 days ago

      This one is still net positive?! Lemmy’s voting system must be malfunctioning or something.