Landlord to pay more than $1M over allegations that it conspired to inflate rent at apartments across DC

WASHINGTON — A landlord accused of conspiring with other property owners to inflate rents at more than 50,000 apartments across D.C. will have to pay over $1 million and reform its business practices.

The payout was announced Monday by Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb, who said William C. Smith & Co., Inc. (W.C. Smith) will be required to pay over $1 million and actively work to reform its business practices after being accused of using the pricing software RealPage, Inc. to inflate rent.

W.C. Smith reportedly owns 9,000 of the impact units and is the first landlord to settle from a lawsuit filed by the Office of the Attorney General in Nov. 2023 .

In 2023, Schwalb accused 14 DC landlords of using RealPage's centralized pricing algorithm to inflate prices, costing renters millions of