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The FAIR Act bans software that makes rental recommendations based on the private data of competing landlords, a practice that state officials say leads to inflated housing costs.
Governor Mikie Sherrill holds a press conference to sign the FAIR Act into law at Military Park in Newark on Monday, July 20. Along with the Governor, Deputy Attorney General Sundeep Iyer, Rep. Yvonne Lopez and 32BJ SEIU Vice President and New Jersey Director Ana Maria Hill. Photo: Tim Larsen, Governor’s Office.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a law Monday banning landlords from using algorithmic software that recommends rental prices based on private data from competing landlords. That practice helped drive up rents through unlawful coordination, according to state officials.
The Probiding the Algorithmic Inflation of Rent (FAIR) Act prohibits landlords from using software that evaluates rental recommendations by analyzing private, non-public data shared by competing landlords.
“The problem is that these tools bring competing landlords and tenants into one team,” Sherrill said as he signed a bill. “Landlords can use these algorithms to coordinate prices, move in lockstep and drive rents higher and higher. This is collusion by an algorithm and it is illegal.”
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The New Jersey Senate passed the FAIR Act on June 18 and the Assembly approved it on June 30.
The legislation comes amid increasing scrutiny of property management software such as RealPage, which describes itself as “the first AI-powered operating system for multifamily property management.” The U.S. Department of Justice and several states, including New Jersey, have sued RealPage, claiming its software helped landlords coordinate rental prices in violation of antitrust laws. RealPage and several major landlords agreed to a nearly $360 million settlement in a private antitrust lawsuit, denying wrongdoing.
As part of this settlement, RealPage agreed to stop using certain non-public competitive data to generate rental recommendations and to eliminate features that equalize rents between competing landlords.
Affordable housing advocates told The Jersey Vindicator’s Dylan Jovanovic that New Jersey’s housing shortage remains the main reason for high rents, but said the FAIR Act could help prevent further increases.
“The FAIR Act will be a critical new tool in our efforts to make housing more affordable,” Assistant Attorney General Sundeep Iyer said in signing the bill Monday. The Attorney General’s Office will set up an online system through which tenants and others can report suspected violations of the law.
Assistant Attorney General Sundeep Iyer discusses the FAIR Act at Military Park in Newark on Monday, July 20. Photo: Tim Larsen, Governor’s Office.
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Curtis Brodner is a member of the Report for America Corps covering housing and affordability for The Jersey Vindicator. He reports on the policies, people and institutions that determine where New Jersey residents can live, with a focus on accountability and solutions. Before joining The Jersey Vindicator, he was a criminal justice reporter at Columbia Journalism Investigations, where he produced investigative reporting for New York Focus. Curtis earned a master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School, where he was a fellow at the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from SUNY Purchase.
https://jerseyvindicator.org/2026/07/20/new-jersey-bans-ai-powered-rent-setting-software-used-by-landlords/
