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The US Justice Department has reached a settlement with real estate technology company RealPage after allegations that its software helped landlords illegally collude to raise rents, court documents show.

The agreement, announced Monday in North Carolina federal court, aims to restore competition in rental markets and protect tenants from inflated pricing.

Under the settlement, RealPage must stop using "nonpublic, competitively sensitive information" from landlords to set rents.

The company will also be barred from using active lease data to train its pricing algorithms, and can only rely on information at least 12 months old.

RealPage will accept a court-appointed monitor for three years to ensure compliance.

"Competing companies must make independent pricing decisions, and with the rise of algorithmic and artificial intelligence tools, we will remain at the forefront of vigorous antitrust enforcement," DOJ antitrust chief Gail Slater said, Bloomberg reported.

She emphasized that the settlement brings relief to renters now, rather than waiting for a lengthy trial.

The lawsuit, filed last year under then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, claimed that RealPage's software allowed landlords to prioritize profits over filling units.

Instead of competing to attract tenants, landlords allegedly used the software to align rent prices based on data from rival property owners, driving up costs for tenants.

DOJ Bars RealPage from Using Sensitive Rent Data

The settlement also prohibits RealPage from assessing market effects below the state level and requires the company to remove or redesign any features that could encourage landlords to limit rent reductions.

The company will stop soliciting sensitive market information through surveys and will refrain from discussing nonpublic data in meetings about its revenue management software.

According to NY Post, RealPage, based in Richardson, Texas, had previously faced accusations alongside major landlords including Greystar, Blackstone's LivCor, and Camden Property Trust.

While some landlords have settled, proceedings against others continue, and RealPage has agreed to cooperate with the DOJ in those cases.

"RealPage has built a business out of frustrating the natural forces of competition," the DOJ said in court filings.

CEO Dirk Wakeham called the settlement a positive step. "We are pleased to have reached this agreement with the DOJ, which brings the clarity and stability we have long sought and allows us to move forward with a continued focus on innovation and the shared goal of better outcomes for both housing providers and renters," he said.