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A New York City broker filed a class action lawsuit against Zillow this week, alleging that the company’s StreetEasy apartment platform effectively hid rental listings but still charged a daily fee to the agent.
George T. Spyridakis, an associate broker with eXp, filed his complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, near Zillow’s headquarters.
Spyridakis alleged he paid $7 daily for each listing, and that he has listed over 250 properties for rent or for sale on StreetEasy, but that listings on occasion have been “masked” from public view.
“Zillow allows multiple listing Realtors to list the same property for rent at the same time on its StreetEasy platform, charging each listing Realtor $7.00 per day,” Spyridakis said in his complaint.
He alleged that only the most recent rental listing agent would be displayed on the platform, “masking or otherwise removing from public view all prior listing Realtors, while continuing to charge the prior listing Realtor the $7.00 per day fee for the listing.”
Spyridakis alleged that the damages exceeded $5 million.
Neither he nor his attorney responded to requests for comment on the new lawsuit.
StreetEasy declined to comment on the suit.
In New York, multiple brokers can advertise the same unit. But StreetEasy policies appear to seek to prevent that from happening.
“Only one copy of a rental listing is permitted on StreetEasy,” the company’s listings quality policy says. “We will not approve the same unit to be advertised by more than one brokerage, landlord, or owner.”
Spyridakis said the alleged masking occurred on “numerous occasions, causing [him] to lose business, in addition to its daily advertising fee paid to Zillow.”
The lawsuit envisions two proposed classes. The first, a damages class, includes anyone who listed a property for sale or for rent on StreetEasy but had it masked while they paid the fee. The second, for declaratory and injunctive relief, includes anyone who previously listed, currently lists or intends to list a property on StreetEasy in the future.
“Although Plaintiffs do not know the precise number Class Members (sic), the number is far greater than can be feasibly addressed through joinder due to the size of Defendant’s business and the number of listings on its site on any given day,” Spyridakis wrote.
