A bill to ban landlords from using services that aggregate apartment information to help them set rent prices is back again at the legislature, after in last year's legislative session.
Democratic lawmakers are promoting this year's bill as part of they say will help with the cost of living in Colorado. It鈥檚 sponsored by Reps. Javier Mabrey and Steven Woodrow and Sen. Julie Gonzales, the same lawmakers behind the previous version of the bill.
aims to stop what state representatives are calling a form of collusion that has been collectively driving up housing prices.
Lawmakers want landlords to stop working with RealPage and similar companies. RealPage collects internal data from landlords throughout the metro area, including information about vacancies, rents and more, and then shares recommended rental prices with them based on that market data. that the company pushed landlords to use the prices determined by the software.
by the Colorado Attorney General's Office, the Justice Department and seven other states.
鈥淚 do just want to take the opportunity to thank Attorney General (Phil) Weiser for fighting in the courts and taking on some of these corporate bad actors. But, we cannot wait for the courts to settle this,鈥� Mabrey said during a recent press conference. 鈥淲e believe a lot of this is already illegal, but we're going to (take a) stand this legislature and say 鈥榚nough is enough' and change the law right now to be absolutely clear.鈥�
However, opponents of the bill dispute the idea that the practice of using rent algorithms amounts to unfair collusion.
Drew Hamrick with the Colorado Apartment Association says that collusion is essentially made up of three parts: direct communication between competitors, communication about future prices and for the competitors involved to be big enough to impact the larger market.
鈥淲e know the sponsors and the proponents are sincerely worried that these products somehow lead to price collusion, and so we expected (the bill) to come back,鈥� Hamrick said. 鈥淭here's been a lot of negative publicity about these products between then and now, and I think that changes the political climate a little bit. We do not share those concerns that these products either raise the cost of rent.鈥�
A study last year found that units priced by RealPage Inc. , and that the owners of 45% of apartments rented out in the city last year used RealPage. The Council of Economic Advisors conducted the study using data from RealPage and the U.S. Census Bureau鈥檚 American Community Survey. It was released under the Biden Administration, but has under the current Trump Administration.
Hamrick says the 45% figure just isn鈥檛 plausible.
鈥淭here's no vendor, no matter how valuable their product is, no matter how cheap it's sold for, that has 40% of the rental provider market on anything. If RealPage has more than 15% of the market, I'd be shocked,鈥� Hamrick told CPR News. 鈥淪o the level of importance of their product is greatly overemphasized in this discussion.鈥�
But critics see a bigger footprint. In the past, RealPage and the landlords who use it have been , replacing the competition that can drive down prices with unstated agreements on what to charge.
鈥淲e are ready to do the work to ban these unfair rental algorithms from existing in the state of Colorado,鈥� Gonzales said during the press conference. 鈥淲hile the important litigation continues to wind its way through the courts, it is another month that Colorado renters 鈥� and Denver renters 鈥� in particular, will have to continue to suffer under this unfair practice.鈥�
Last year's bill failed over that would have allowed landlords to keep using these products as long as companies like RealPage also offered a recommendation product to the public. Looking to its chances this year, Gonzales says she hopes changes in the makeup of the Senate will help it go further this time around.
A number of the Democratic senators who joined Republicans to oppose last year鈥檚 bill have since left the legislature.
RealPage and other opponents of the ban have defended the use of the algorithms, saying that they鈥檙e a useful tool that can minimize vacancies, ensuring that landlords don鈥檛 leave housing empty by overpricing it.
鈥淏anning the use of non-public information could have negative and unintended consequences for consumers,鈥� RealPage said in a statement to CPR in 2024. "Further, removing a housing provider鈥檚 ability to use normal technology and tools, and accurate data, to aid its business decision-making will not improve housing affordability or availability.鈥�
On the same day lawmakers were touting the bill, the Apartment Association of Metro Denver announced that rent prices have seen , with an average decrease of $69.
鈥淭he reason for that is exactly what you'd expect. There've been a lot of new apartment units built and put on the market over that period of time,鈥� Hamrick said. 鈥淪upply is keeping up with demand, which is very, very, very good for consumers.鈥�
The anti-rent setting bill is part of a package Democrats are running .
鈥淭he results of the last election should be a warning for Democrats,鈥� Mabrey said at the press conference. 鈥淲e need to return to our roots and center the concerns of working families, and here we are putting a flag in the ground and saying that we are on the side of working people and we will prioritize their livelihoods over these record corporate profits.鈥�
Denverite鈥檚 Andy Kenney contributed to this report.