W.C. Smith to pay over $1 Million to Settle Rental Price-Fixing Case

June 2, 2025

Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today announced that William C. Smith & Co., Inc. (W.C. Smith) will pay over $1 million and reform its business practices to resolve allegations that it conspired with other District landlords, using pricing software from RealPage, Inc., to inflate rents at over 50,000 apartment units across the District. W.C. Smith owns over 9,000 of these units. The settlement is the first to result from OAG’s lawsuit, filed in November 2023.

"Rents in DC are already sky-high, and amidst this housing affordability crisis, many of the District’s top landlords operated as a housing cartel—illegally colluding to push rents even higher,” said Attorney General Schwalb. “I commend W.C. Smith for putting an end to its anticompetitive practices and cooperating with my office to reach this agreement. We will continue working to hold RealPage and the remaining landlords accountable. As the District’s independent Attorney General, I will always fight for fair market conditions to protect District residents and ensure a level playing field for law-abiding businesses.”

Background on RealPage

RealPage offers a variety of technology-based services to real estate owners and property managers, including revenue management (RM) products that depend on non-public, competitively sensitive pricing data that RealPage receives from the owners and managers. RealPage uses this confidential data to estimate supply and demand for multifamily housing that is specific to particular geographic areas and unit types and then generate an artificially inflated rental price that maximizes the landlord’s revenue.

In the District, well over 30% of apartments in multifamily buildings (i.e., buildings with five or more units), and approximately 60% of units in large multifamily buildings (with 50+ units), are priced using RealPage’s software. In the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metropolitan Area, the overall market share is even higher: close to 50% of units in multifamily buildings are priced using RealPage’s software.

This leaves many District residents with no choice but to pay RealPage’s inflated rents.

OAG’s Settlement with W.C. Smith

OAG alleged that W.C. Smith used RealPage’s RM Software to set rents for its over 9,000 units in the District. As a part of RealPage’s price-fixing cartel, W.C. Smith and the other defendant landlords illegally coordinated to share sensitive, non-public company data, forgoing competition and delegating rent-setting authority to RealPage.

Under the terms of the settlement, W.C. Smith will:

  • Pay $1,050,000 to the District in civil penalties, money to impacted residents, and legal fees.
     

  • Reform its rent-setting practices to prohibit the use of revenue management software that relies on any non-public or confidential data from other companies.
     

  • Refrain from encouraging others to use revenue management software to accept recommended rent prices and from promoting the use of this type of software to other property owners.

A copy of the settlement is available here.

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorneys General Ashley Walters and Mehreen Imtiaz, and Adam Gitlin, Chief of the Antitrust and Nonprofit Enforcement Section.
 

OAG’s Antitrust Enforcement Actions

OAG has a long track record of holding companies accountable for antitrust violations that harm District consumers. In addition to filing the first government lawsuit against RealPage and 14 defendant landlords, OAG filed the first government lawsuit to challenge certain anticompetitive pricing policies by Amazon. OAG has also worked with state and federal partners to secure multiple antitrust wins against Google, has joined a federal antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation for monopolizing the live entertainment industry, and has successfully opposed anticompetitive mergers such as those between Kroger and Albertsons and JetBlue and Spirit.
 

Resources for Tenants

OAG works to ensure that residents across the District have access to safe and affordable housing and holds landlords accountable if they violate the law. Access OAG’s resources for guidance on how to report problems with a landlord or with housing conditions. Tenants may send complaints about housing conditions to HousingJustice@dc.gov.