Former Virginia leaders urge GOP AGs not to join 'anti-free market' lawsuit

(The Center Square) — Former Virginia governors Bob McDonnell and Jim Gilmore and former state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli penned a letter to Republican attorneys general Monday petitioning them not to join a reportedly forthcoming Department of Justice lawsuit against property management software company RealPage, Inc.

One of RealPage’s services aggregates data from clients to help landlords determine rental prices for their properties. The department alleged in a Statement of Interest in a class action lawsuit against the company last year that RealPage and its clients are engaging in a conspiracy to control rental prices. The letter’s authors see the lawsuit as “unjustified” and “anti-free market,” and they anticipate the department will ask state attorneys general to add their names to the suit.

“We ask that you choose not to… [sign] onto an unjustified, anti-free market suit, which would create pricing knowledge gaps — discouraging future building and investing in the housing industry and making today’s problems worse, not better,” they wrote.

The former attorneys general (McDonnell and Gilmore served as state attorneys general before becoming governor) claim that the Biden-Harris administration is “attempt[ing] to manipulate the housing marketplace for political purposes” while implementing policies that have contributed to the conditions renters and home buyers see now.

“Housing costs have become very inflated for a variety of reasons. Chief among those is the current Administration’s inflationary policies and costly regulations, which have discouraged new construction, creating a significant property shortage,” the former attorneys general wrote.

In July, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass the Biden-Harris Housing Plan, a bill that promises to build 2 million homes, “unlock homeownership for millions of Americans,” and attempt to persuade corporate landlords to cap rent increases on existing units at 5% or risk losing their current federal tax breaks.

Vice President Kamala Harris has also promoted the legislation as part of her platform to strengthen the middle class and temper the effects of inflation by “[taking] on price-gouging and [bringing] down costs.”

“We will take on corporate landlords and cap unfair rent increases,” Harris said at an Atlanta rally amidst promises to prohibit bank late fees and cap the cost of prescription drugs.