Arizona AG settles with 1 of 9 landlords accused of price fixing

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has settled with one of nine landlords it sued in February 2024 for engaging in a price fixing operation that the state said led to apartment rent hikes in metro Phoenix and Tucson.

The attorney general will dismiss claims against Weidner Property Management LLC, which agreed to donate $1 million to Arizona nonprofit Wildfire to help the landlord’s former and current tenants.

The settlement stems from Arizona’s lawsuit against RealPage Inc. and several landlords, alleging antitrust and fraud violations. The suit against the other nine firms is ongoing.

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The lawsuit alleges Texas-based software company RealPage, which works for landlords to collect data on the rental market and set prices, and the apartment landlords conspired to drive up costs.

“Arizona renters deserve a fair and competitive housing market — not one manipulated by secret algorithms and backroom deals,” Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a prepared statement. “This settlement not only stops harmful practices but also provides direct assistance to renters.”

Weidner did not respond to a request for comment.

What to know about the Arizona lawsuit against landlords

Besides Weidner, landlords named in the suit include: Apartment Management Consultants, Avenue5 Residential, BH Management Services, Camden Property Trust, Crow Holdings/Trammell Crow Residential, Greystar Management, HSL Properties and RPM Living.

When the lawsuit was filed, Mayes said the defendants “tricked tenants into paying more for rent than they otherwise would have, and they did this at a time when inflation had skyrocketed and Arizona‘s affordable housing crisis was among the worst in the nation.”

She said the rent “conspiracy” was going on since at least 2016.

When the lawsuit was filed, the landlords and RealPage declined to comment.

Metro Phoenix rents saw a 30% increase in 2021, the highest in the nation. Many tenants saw increases of hundreds of dollars a month when they went to renew in 2022.

Weidner also agreed to stop using rent products that rely on competitors’ nonpublic data or that drive algorithm-driven rent recommendations.

The agreement does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing by Weidner, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

The attorney general’s lawsuit alleges the landlords and RealPage violated the Arizona Uniform State Antitrust Act, which restricts conspiracies that restrain trade and monopolies, and the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act, which prohibits deceptive and unfair practices and concealing “material facts in connection with a sale.”

Lawsuits against RealPage and landlords have come in other states. Twenty-one federal cases were consolidated together in Nashville and another was filed in Washington, D.C., late in 2023.

Landlords in some of those cases also have settled.

The U.S. Department of Justice settled its August 2024 lawsuit against RealPage in November 2025. It included similar allegations to the state lawsuits.

Reporting by Catherine Reagor and Stacey Barchenger, Arizona Republic