FRANKFORT, Ky. (July 2, 2025) – Attorney General Russell Coleman announced action today to protect Kentucky renters against corporate price fixing. General Coleman filed a lawsuit against RealPage, Inc., a multibillion-dollar real estate software and service company based in Texas. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, also names several landlord organizations as defendants for unlawfully increasing prices of Kentucky renters.
Approximately 560,000 Kentucky households are occupied by renters, and the number continues to grow. As of 2023, 47.5% of Kentucky renters were "cost-burdened," meaning they spend at least 30% of their income on rent. At the same time, the growing cost of rent in Louisville was second highest among all U.S. markets.
RealPage operates a commercial revenue management software, controlling more than 80% of the rental market. Since at least 2016, the company has collected sensitive and nonpublic data from competing landlords to generate price recommendations for its clients. That data, which includes rental applications, executed new leases, renewal offers and acceptances and forward-looking occupancy, is fed into an algorithm to recommend the highest possible price a landlord could offer a renter.
"RealPage replaces competition with coordination. It does so openly and directly, and renters in Kentucky are left paying the price," the complaint reads.
General Coleman alleges RealPage and the landlord organizations engaged in unlawful price fixing while violating federal antitrust laws and Kentucky's Consumer Protection Act. The Attorney General asked the federal court to prevent the defendants from continuing their illegal actions and pay civil penalties up to $10,000 for each violation.
"Out-of-state corporations are taking advantage of Kentuckians, and they're circumventing the free market to do it," said Attorney General Coleman. "These predatory businesses will face serious consequences in Kentucky."
The Attorney General's Division Chief for Consumer and Senior Protection Chris Lewis led the Commonwealth's effort, along with Deputy Director for Consumer Protection Jon Farmer and Assistant Attorney General John Ghaelian.
Read the Attorney General's complaint here.
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