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Housing: landlord and tenants; use of certain software to share pricing information and set rent rates; prohibit. Amends title & sec. 1 of 1972 PA 348 (MCL 554.601) & adds sec. 1e.

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Senate Bill No. 794 amends Michigan's 1972 PA 348 (the landlord-tenant security deposit act) to prohibit landlords from using algorithmic pricing devices that incorporate nonpublic competitor data to coordinate rent pricing among landlords or to enter into agreements restraining the rental housing market. Section 1 adds and revises several definitions: 'algorithmic pricing device' (a device using algorithms to calculate data, including local or statewide rent data, to advise landlords on rent amounts, but excluding periodic trade association reports published no more frequently than monthly and products used for affordable housing program rent or income limits); 'nonpublic competitor data' (non-publicly available information such as actual rent prices, occupancy rates, and lease dates derived from market competitors); and 'prospective tenant' (an individual who requests to rent a unit). New Section 1e prohibits landlords from using, incorporating, or training an algorithmic pricing device with nonpublic competitor data to coordinate price, supply, or other rental housing information among two or more landlords, or to enter into agreements with other landlords in restraint of the rental housing market. A violation of Section 1e constitutes a violation of the Michigan Antitrust Reform Act, 1984 PA 274, MCL 445.771 to 445.788. The bill's title is also amended to add a prohibition on 'certain rent pricing devices.'

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