Corporate landlords buy single-family rental homes en masse and employ property technologies to execute fully automated transactions and tenant communication systems. The rapid emergence of corporate landlords is inseparable from the property technologies on which they rely. As such, corporate landlords using property technology to mass acquire and rent single-family homes is referred to as “corporate-tech landlordism.” This new era of landlordism is changing the nature of the landlord-tenant relationships and highlights gaps in the effectiveness of local law to protect tenants’ rights.

Property technologies used to purchase single-family homes at scale monopolize and target urban, suburban, and rural markets, rapidly depleting housing stock for prospective buyers in unprecedented ways. Automated property management and tenant communication systems leave tenants with few alternatives to address conditions violations. Corporate profit incentives push corporate-tech landlords to disregard maintenance requests and other landlord responsibilities. Additionally, rent pricing technologies identify ideal conditions for coordinated rent hikes, fee extractions, and bulk evictions, exacerbating housing insecurity.

Corporate-tech landlordism is changing landlord-tenant law. As this Article shows, state law is ill-equipped to address the full scope of corporate-tech business across the country. Next, the Article explores the impact of corporate-tech landlords on housing markets and landlord-tenant relations. It then argues that Congress should use its Commerce Clause power to address corporate-tech business activity and its use of property technologies. Reform should create federal tenant protections to level the landlord-tenant playing field and promote accountability. While landlord-tenant law has historically been local law, policymakers in the new era of corporate-tech landlordism must confront the need for federal intervention.