Committee hears bill to ban automated landlord coordination for rent-setting; industry disputes characterization

Senate Bill 5,469, introduced in the House Housing Committee on March 20, would prohibit the use of automated or algorithmic processes to coordinate rent-setting among two or more landlords and would authorize enforcement by the attorney general under the Consumer Protection Act and a private right of action.

Committee staff Serena Dolly summarized the bill, giving the bill's working definition of "coordination" as the collection of rental prices, price changes, supply levels, occupancy rates or lease termination/renewal dates from two or more landlords or public/private databases and the analysis of those data through automated processes to recommend rental prices or terms "to more than one landlord." The staff summary said publication of rent estimates based solely on publicly available information would not be coordination under the bill.

Sponsor remarks and multiple witnesses framed the bill as a response to national litigation alleging that some software platforms facilitate landlord price coordination. Lee Hepner of the American Economic Liberties Project and Michelle Thomas of the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance told the committee they have seen products that can encourage landlords to keep units vacant and raise rents; Hepner cited a White House study cited in testimony characterizing algorithmic pricing effects on rents.

Industry witnesses and the company RealPage disputed that the product is designed to fix prices. Mike Semco, vice president and legal counsel for RealPage, told the committee: "We do not set rents. Our customers set the rents. We simply make suggestions." Semco described the platform as property-level market research that combines a property's internal data with public asking-rent data and anonymized aggregated executed-lease data to produce pricing suggestions; he said customers are under no contractual obligation to accept those suggestions.

Stakeholders sought narrower drafting to avoid unintentionally banning common business practices such as occupancy surveys and legitimate data sharing among cooperating property managers or MLS functions. Mary Hall Drury of Washington Realtors said the association supports the bill's intent but is working with the sponsor on clarifying language so multiple-listing-service (MLS) functions are not unduly impacted. Some committee members asked whether the Legislature should wait for the outcome of federal litigation; witnesses said federal cases may proceed slowly and that state law can codify protections now.

Public comment included a resident who said automated pricing and corporate buyers had sharply increased rents at her manufactured-home community. The committee did not take a final vote; sponsors and stakeholders said they are working on clarifying amendments and an MLS listing exception.