Corporate landlords in Canada used YieldStar AI software to coordinate rent increases, with the technology collecting confidential rental data from competing landlords and generating pricing recommendations that allegedly enabled collusion and artificially inflated rents across thousands of rental units.
YieldStar is an AI-powered rental pricing software owned by Texas-based RealPage Inc. that generates apartment pricing recommendations by analyzing market surveys, unit types, pricing categories, and real-time lease transaction data. The software collected confidential pricing information from competing landlords including rental rates, lease terms, and vacancy data, then used algorithms to generate rent increase recommendations. In Canada, major corporate landlords including GWL Realty Advisors, Dream Unlimited, and others used YieldStar since at least 2017. Tenants like Cynthia Black in Toronto faced annual rent increases of 7-11% in buildings exempt from Ontario rent controls, with YieldStar recommendations ranging from 7-54% increases. The U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against RealPage in August 2024, alleging the software enabled landlords to collude and artificially inflate rents. Following media coverage and tenant complaints, Canada's Competition Bureau launched an investigation in September 2024. Several Canadian landlords including GWLRA and Dream Unlimited subsequently terminated their use of YieldStar. A proposed class-action lawsuit was filed in Canada seeking compensation for tenants who may have overpaid rent due to the alleged price-fixing scheme affecting properties managed by 15 companies dating back to 2009.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed