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New Jersey bans algorithmic rent pricing tools under FAIR Act
The FAIR Act takes effect July 1, 2027 and creates a renter reporting portal, giving landlords about a year to review whether their software falls under the new rules.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed the Forbidding the Algorithmic Inflation of Rent (FAIR) Act to restrict algorithmic rent-setting tools that pool nonpublic data across landlords, framing the move as a way to prevent coordination that can push apartment rents higher, HousingWire reports.
The law takes effect July 1, 2027 and adds a renter reporting portal. It also aligns New Jersey with similar statewide bans that were adopted in New York, California, and Connecticut last year, and it joins city-level restrictions that started in San Francisco and Philadelphia and later spread to places including Jersey City, Minneapolis, San Diego, and Hoboken.
Supporters pointed to a broader trend in which rent-setting algorithms were first challenged in court. Renters brought class-action lawsuits accusing RealPage and multiple major landlords of using the company’s software to coordinate rent hikes instead of competing.
HousingWire also notes that the legal fight includes outcomes such as a settlement last October in which Greystar, the nation’s largest landlord, and 25 other property firms agreed to pay more than $141 million collectively. Separately, the U.S. Justice Department sued RealPage and six large landlords in 2024, and RealPage settled last year alongside Greystar, LivCor, and Cortland Management, while Willow Bridge later settled with the DOJ.