Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Wednesday one of the largest landlords in the state is settling a lawsuit involving rental price fixing.
Weidner Property Management, the company involved in the suit, is required to pay nearly $1 million to a rental nonprofit, which will reimburse up to two months rent for some tenants.
The lawsuit is a part of a larger effort by Mayes to reframe the current state of Arizona's housing market.
Mayes said she plans to change the market into "one where landlords are fighting for their renters business. Not coordinating with each other to extract as much money as possible from their renters."
Mayes alluded to plans of targeting at least seven more landlord companies and RealPage, a property management software company.
RealPage has been slammed with anti-trust lawsuits in the last year for its rental price algorithm. The algorithm provides landlords nationwide with daily pricing suggestions for their available apartments.
Opponents of the system argue its access to confidential data encourages landlords to price their apartments at the highest possible rate, according to the Associated Press.
Weidner Property Management will be forced to cut ties with RealPage for at least five years, per the suit in Arizona. Mayes warned if coordination between the two companies continues, she will not hesitate to sue again.
"I'd sue them again in a heartbeat for doing this," Mayes said.
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