Congress targets algorithmic rent coordination with treble damages for tenants

What it does

This bill makes it illegal for landlords to use pricing-coordination services that collect rent data from multiple properties, analyze it with algorithms, and recommend rental prices back to those landlords. It treats such coordination as price-fixing under antitrust law, giving the FTC, the Attorney General, state attorneys general, and injured tenants the power to sue for triple damages plus attorney fees.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is to prohibit and penalize a specific form of price coordination—the use of data-sharing and algorithmic pricing services by landlords—by treating it as a per se antitrust violation. It is a targeted enforcement tool, not a broad rent-control measure.

What the text implies

• The bill's definition of 'coordinating function' is broad enough to potentially capture legitimate property-management software, benchmarking services, or market-analysis tools if they analyze multi-property data and recommend prices—scope of enforcement will depend on FTC/DOJ interpretation.
• Private right of action with treble damages and attorney-fee shifting may generate significant litigation risk for property-management companies, software vendors, and landlords, potentially chilling legitimate data sharing or benchmarking.
• The bill does not define what constitutes 'recommending' prices or how similar a 'formula or methodology' must be to trigger liability, creating ambiguity in enforcement and compliance.
• State attorneys general gain independent enforcement authority, creating potential for inconsistent application across jurisdictions and forum-shopping by plaintiffs.
• The bill's per se treatment (no rule-of-reason defense) means defendants cannot argue pro-competitive justifications, shifting burden entirely to defendants to prove the service does not meet the statutory definition.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Tenants gain a direct remedy against algorithmic rent coordination that may suppress competition and inflate prices. The bill creates private rights of action with treble damages, lowering the barrier for injured renters to sue and potentially reducing coordinated rent increases. However, the practical effect depends on whether such services actually exist at scale and whether courts will enforce the per se standard.

Who stands to gain

• tenants (via reduced rent coordination and treble-damages recovery)
• plaintiff attorneys (via attorney-fee awards and contingency litigation)

Named in the bill

Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice, State attorneys general, Rental property owners, Property-management software vendors, Pricing-coordination service providers

Where it stands

37 cosponsors: 37 Democrats.

• Nov 19, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Nov 19, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $410,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 166 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Becca Balint, the sponsor, reported $282,379 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• American Federation of Teachers — $410,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.