'Using AI to adjust rents' banned in New York
On October 16, 2025, New York Governor
NY State Assembly Bill 2025-A1417
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/A1417/amendment/original
Governor Hochul Signs Legislative Package to Bolster Homeownership and Strengthen Protections for Renters | Governor Kathy Hochul
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-signs-legislative-package-bolster-homeownership-and-strengthen-protections
New York bans AI-enabled rent price fixing | The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/news/801205/new-york-rent-price-fixing-ban-software
Real estate software companies such as RealPage use AI to help clients set rents for properties. RealPage says its software 'helps clients optimize rents for each property to achieve the highest overall return through a combination of rent and occupancy.'
However, these real estate software have been criticized for contributing to the historic rise in home prices and harming renters. In August 2024, the US Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against RealPage , alleging that it helped property management companies conspire to inflate rents for millions of rental properties.
On October 16, 2025, Haukl signed a bill banning landlords from using price-fixing software to set rents. 'Every New Yorker deserves safe and stable housing, and this legislation further opens the door to homeownership and strengthens protections for renters,' Haukl said in a statement.
According to Houkl, it is estimated that renters across the United States suffered losses of $3.8 billion (approximately 570 billion yen) due to the use of price manipulation software by 2024. Also, a 2022 investigation by the American news organization ProPublica also suggested that RealPage's algorithms were associated with rising rental prices across the United States.
The bill not only prohibits the use of software to set rents, but also considers property owners who use such software to be in 'collusion.' In other words, if two or more property owners use software to set rents, they will be deemed to have 'substantially chosen not to compete with each other (colluded),' regardless of whether they did so intentionally. This would be counted as a separate violation from software-based rent setting.
'The use of rent-setting software like RealPage constitutes clear collusion, artificially inflating home prices at a time when hardworking New Yorkers are facing a serious housing crisis,' said State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, one of the bill's sponsors. 'This bill amends our antitrust laws to make clear that AI-based rent pricing is illegal and establishes boundaries for conduct the federal government has determined constitutes anti-competitive or price-fixing behavior. Renting in New York State is already difficult, and we cannot allow exploitative technology to make it even more difficult.'
The legislation based on this bill is expected to come into effect within 60 days.
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in Free Member, Software, Posted by log1h_ik