Proposed class-action lawsuit accuses companies of price-fixing rents in Canada [Video]

A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges more than a dozen landlords and property managers have conspired to artificially inflate rents across Canada.

The suit claims landlords and property managers did it by using software called YieldStar.

The move comes after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a similar lawsuit in August against RealPage Inc., the Texas-based company that created YieldStar.

RealPage says it has filed a motion to dismiss the DOJ’s lawsuit alleging antitrust violations.

The Canadian suit alleges the software essentially allows landlords and property managers to share proprietary data on their rental pricing — information that wouldn’t normally be shared with competitors — and that this could potentially allow companies to fix prices. 

“It is important to note that all of this still needs to be proven in court,” Adam Tanel, the main litigator on the Canadian case, told CBC’s The National. “But if these allegations are proven in …