Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official page posted by the New Jersey Legislature, fetched 2026-08-28. Where this bill amends existing law, language marked for deletion in the official page appears here in brackets. This is the introduced version. The official bill page.
ASSEMBLY, No. 3497 STATE OF NEW JERSEY 222nd LEGISLATURE PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION Sponsored by: Assemblywoman YVONNE LOPEZ District 19 (Middlesex) Assemblywoman MARGIE DONLON, M.D. District 11 (Monmouth) Assemblyman CHIGOZIE U. ONYEMA District 28 (Essex and Union) Co-Sponsored by: Assemblywoman Peterpaul, Assemblyman Sampson and Assemblywoman Brennan SYNOPSIS Prohibits certain coordination among residential rental property owners who restrict competition with respect to residential dwelling units. CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel. An Act concerning certain coordination in residential rental property pricing and supplementing P.L.1970, c.73 (C.56:9-1 et seq.). Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey: 1. The Legislature finds and declares that: a. New Jersey is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis, as demonstrated by rental housing industry data showing median rent for a three-bedroom apartment increasing by 35 percent in the State from 2021 through 2024 and a studio in a more urban environment such as Hoboken increasing by 61 percent in the same timeframe. b. Data from the United States Census Bureau indicates that over 50 percent of renters in New Jersey are deemed “rent burdened,” which means an individual spends more than 30 percent of income on rent. c. Recent national data indicates that landlords of residential rental housing use property management software to collude and raise residential rental housing prices, which may have contributed to recent increases in the State. d. Landlords engaging with the software supply real-time prices and additional lease information to companies managing the software, who proceed to use algorithms to fix rental prices. As a result, competition decreases and typically rental prices increase. e. A leading property management software company in the United States hinted at the outcome of using its software by stating on its website that it enables landlords to “outperform the market” by two to five percent, with a company executive publicly stating that the software could be responsible for rent increases of up to 14.5 percent. f. New Jersey recognizes housing as a basic human need and endeavors to expand access to affordable housing. 2. As used in this act: “Consciously parallel pricing coordination” means a tacit or express agreement between two or more rental property owners that are not related by a business agreement or contract to raise, lower, change, maintain, or manipulate pricing for the purchase or sale of reasonably interchangeable products or services unless required to do so in accordance with a rental cost restriction program. Actions of a rental property owner related exclusively to multiple properties controlled by the same property owner shall not be considered consciously parallel pricing coordination. “Coordinating function” means between two or more property owners: (1) collecting nonpublic information; (2) analyzing or processing nonpublic information through use of a system, software, algorithm, or other automated process; and (3) recommending rental prices, lease renewal terms, or ideal occupancy levels to a rental property owner. “Coordinator” means any software, data analytics service, or entity that performs a coordinating function for any rental property owner. “Coordinator” shall not include a software, data analytics service, or entity that: (1) generates or uses any report that provides rental data in an aggregated manner and does not recommend rent prices, fees, occupancy rates, or other rental contract terms for future leases; or (2) provides or uses rental data for the purpose of conducting research, statistics, testing, or training for software development. “Coordinator” shall not include a government entity that sets or limits rents or sale prices in accordance with a rental price restriction program. “Nonpublic information” means information including but not limited to prices, supply levels, security deposits, ideal occupancy levels, lease contract termination, renewal dates of residential dwelling units or any other material lease terms from two or more rental property owners that is less than 365 days old and is not available for use or purchase by the public. “Rental price restriction program” means a program established to restrict rent on persons of limited means, including but not limited to, the federal Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) Program, P.L.2004, c.140 (C.52:27D-287.1 et al.), the “Fair Housing Act,” P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-301 et al.), any program administered by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, a rent control or rent levelling ordinance, or any other program established to limit rent identified in the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to section 7 or P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill). “Residential dwelling unit” means any house, apartment, accessory unit, or other unit intended to be used as a primary residence in the State. “Residential dwelling unit” shall not include inpatient medical care, licensed long-term care, or detention or correctional facilities. 3. It shall be unlawful and a violation of the “New Jersey Antitrust Act,” P.L.1970, c.73 (C.56:9-1 et seq.) for: a. a rental property owner, or any agent, representative, or subcontractor thereof, to subscribe to, contract with, or otherwise exchange any form of consideration in return for the use of services of a coordinator; b. the owner of a coordinator to facilitate an agreement among rental property owners that restricts competition with respect to residential dwelling units, including by performing a coordinating function; or c. two or more rental property owners to engage in consciously parallel pricing coordination. 4. Sections 7 through 17 of the “New Jersey Antitrust Act,” P.L.1970, c.73 (C.56:9-7 through 56:9-17) shall apply for a violation pursuant to section 3 of this act. 5. Nothing in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall apply to multiple listing services or their members. 6. The Department of Law and Public Safety, in conjunction with the Department of Community Affairs, shall develop and undertake a public education program designed to inform the citizens of this State of the provisions of this act. A component of this program shall include information posted on the website of each department dedicated to the provisions of this act and the steps a consumer is to take if the consumer suspects a violation of this act. 7. The Attorney General and the Commissioner of Community Affairs, pursuant to the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), shall adopt rules and regulations to effectuate the purposes of this act. 8. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month next following the date of enactment. STATEMENT This bill prohibits the facilitation of agreements among rental property owners who restrict competition with respect to residential dwelling units. Under the bill, it is unlawful and a violation of the “New Jersey Antitrust Act” for: (1) a rental property owner, or any agent, representative, or subcontractor thereof, to subscribe to, contract with, or otherwise exchange any form of consideration in return for the use of services of a coordinator; (2) the owner of a coordinator to facilitate an agreement among rental property owners that restricts competition with respect to residential dwelling units, including by performing a coordinating function; and (3) two or more rental property owners to engage in consciously parallel pricing coordination. The bill provides that the provisions of the bill would not apply to the actions of an owner of multiple properties related exclusively to multiple properties controlled by the same rental property owner or to multiple listing services or their members. A “coordinator” is defined in the bill to mean any software, data analytics service, or entity that performs a coordinating function for any rental property owner, with certain exceptions. “Coordinating function” is defined to mean (1) collecting nonpublic information; (2) analyzing or processing nonpublic information through use of a system, software, algorithm, or other automated process; and (3) recommending rental prices, lease renewal terms, or ideal occupancy levels to a rental property owner. “Nonpublic information” is defined as information including but not limited to prices, supply levels, security deposits, ideal occupancy levels, lease contract termination, renewal dates of residential dwelling units or any other material lease terms from two or more rental property owners that is less than 365 days old and is not available for use or purchase by the public. “Consciously parallel pricing coordination” is defined to mean a tacit or express agreement between two or more rental property owners to raise, lower, change, maintain, or manipulate pricing for the purchase or sale of reasonably interchangeable products or services unless required to do so in accordance with certain governmental rental price restriction programs. The bill further stipulates that current enforcement provisions of the New Jersey Antitrust Act will apply to violations committed pursuant to this bill. Lastly, the Department of Law and Public Safety, in conjunction with the Department of Community Affairs, is required to develop and undertake a public education program designed to inform the citizens of this State of the provisions of the bill. A component of this program is to include information posted on the website of each department dedicated to the provisions of the bill and the steps a consumer is to take if the consumer suspects a violation.
Every fact on this page links to its source, starting with the official bill record.