Prohibits use and sale of algorithmic devices for setting rent price or occupancy of residential dwelling units.

A2299

ASSEMBLY, No. 2299

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman LUANNE M. PETERPAUL

District 11 (Monmouth)

Assemblywoman MARGIE DONLON, M.D.

District 11 (Monmouth)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman Morales

SYNOPSIS

���� Prohibits use and sale of algorithmic devices for
setting rent price or occupancy of residential dwelling units.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
prohibiting
use and sale of algorithmic devices
for setting rent price or occupancy of residential dwelling units and
supplementing and amending P.L.1970, c.73.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.� (New section) a.� It shall
be unlawful to sell, license, or otherwise provide to a landlord an algorithmic
device that sets, recommends, or advises on rents or occupancy rates that may
be achieved for residential dwelling units in the State.

���� b.� It shall be unlawful for a
landlord to use an algorithmic device when setting rents or occupancy rates for
residential dwelling units in the State.� Each separate month that a violation
exists or continues, and each separate residential dwelling unit for which the
landlord uses an algorithmic device, shall constitute a separate and distinct
violation.

���� c.� In addition to the
penalties established pursuant to section 7 of P.L.1970, c.73 (C.56:9-7), the
Attorney General may file a civil action for a violation of subsection a. or b.
of this section, or both, for damages, injunctive relief, restitution or return
of illegal profits, civil penalties of up to $1000 per violation, or some
combination of these penalties.� The court shall award reasonable attorney�s
fees and costs to the Attorney General if the Attorney General is the
prevailing party in such a civil action.

���� 2.� Section 2 of P.L.1970,
c.73 (C.56:9-2) is amended to read as follows:

���� a.� As used in this act,
unless the context otherwise requires "person" shall mean any natural
person or persons, or any corporation, partnership, company, trust or
association of persons.

��� b.�� "Trade or
commerce" shall include all economic activity involving or relating to any
commodity or service.

��� c.�� "Commodity"
shall mean any kind of real or personal property.

��� d.�� "Service" shall
mean any activity which is performed in whole or in part for the purpose of
financial gain, including but not limited to sale, rental, leasing or licensing
for use.

����
e.� "Algorithmic
device" shall mean a device, such as a software program, that uses one or
more algorithms to perform calculations of non-public competitor data
concerning local, statewide, or regional rents or occupancy rates, for the
purpose of advising a landlord whether to leave a unit vacant or on the amount
of rent that the landlord requires from a tenant.� "Algorithmic device"
shall include a product or service that incorporates an algorithmic device, but
does not include: (1) any report published by a trade association that receives
renter data and publishes it in an aggregated and anonymous manner; or (2) a
product used for the purpose of establishing rent or income limits in
accordance with the affordable housing program guidelines of a government
entity.

����
f.� "Non-public
competitor data" shall mean information that is not available to the
general public, including information about actual rent prices, occupancy
rates, lease start and end dates, and other related data, regardless of whether
the information is attributable to a specific competitor or anonymized, or
whether it is derived from, or otherwise provided by, another person that
competes in the same market or a related market.

(cf: P.L.1970, c.73, s.2)

���� 3.� This act shall take effect
on the first day of the second month next following enactment.

STATEMENT

���� This bill
prohibits the
use and sale of algorithmic devices
for setting rent price or occupancy of residential dwelling units.

���� In recent years, a number of
new software programs, often referred to as "algorithmic devices,"
have threatened to destabilize rental housing markets in cities nationwide,
including in New Jersey.� These programs enable landlords to indirectly coordinate
with one another through the sharing of non-public competitively sensitive data
in order to artificially inflate rents and vacancy rates for rental housing.�
Participating landlords provide vast amounts of proprietary data to the
programs, which in turn set or provide recommendations for rent and occupancy
rates.� More and more landlords in the United States now pool their data and
pricing decisions using such software.� This software has contributed to
double-digit rent increases, higher vacancy rates, and higher rates of
eviction, and has distorted markets so that rents and vacancy rates have
increased in tandem.

���� Often used by large corporate
landlords, the software fuels the consolidation of corporate and private equity
ownership of rental housing, at the expense of landlords large and small who
compete in the market without use of this software.� Landlords using these
tools are not appropriately engaging in the market and the companies developing
and selling these tools to landlords are contributing to these problems.�
Numerous antitrust lawsuits have been filed against certain of these companies,
including RealPage, Inc. and Yardi Systems, Inc.� The lawsuits allege that
these companies are enabling and participating in a scheme of unlawful price
fixing.� These include lawsuits filed by the District of Columbia Attorney
General and the Arizona Attorney General and more than 20 federal private class
action lawsuits nationwide that have been consolidated in the federal court in
the Middle District of Tennessee.

���� This bill does not restrict
the development, sale, or use of software to help landlords manage units based
on internal data or with use of publically available data.� Nor does it
regulate the amount of rent that a landlord may charge.

���� This bill prohibits the sale,
license, and use of an algorithmic device that sets, recommends, or advises on
rents or occupancy rates that may be achieved for residential dwelling units in
the State.� The bill provides that the Attorney General may file a civil action
for a violation for damages, injunctive relief, restitution or return of
illegal profits, civil penalties of up to $1000 per violation, or some
combination.� A court is required to award reasonable attorney�s fees and costs
to the Attorney General if the Attorney General is the prevailing party in such
a civil action.� The bill defines "algorithmic devices" and
"non-public competitor data" for the purposes of the "New Jersey
Antitrust Act."