Everyone has heard of TripAdvisor. It’s the website where people go to check user ratings on hotels, apartments and anything else trip-related. In many ways TripAdvisor can be really useful. In fact I would hesitate to book a trip abroad without checking reviews of hotels I am considering paying a fortune to stay in. Well one enterprising individual has decided to create a TripAdvisor website for tenants and landlords. So how does it work?
Rate Your Landlord
RentalRaters has been launched by Hannah Williams, who says:
“The main catalyst for me starting up the site was a very good friend of mine was stung very, very badly by a rogue landlord. He said to me – and the words really resonated – ‘I just wish that I could stand outside that property and tell other tenants as they’re walking through the door, don’t do it, he will rip you off, nothing works.’”
How does RentalRaters Work?
The website aims to make it easier for tenants to avoid rogue landlords by allowing them to post reviews on rental properties. Tenants considering moving into a new property will be able to perform a search on the RentalRaters website and see if the address yields any dodgy reviews. And if it does, they have the option to steer clear and rent somewhere else instead.
All reviewers are verified in order to reduce the number of bogus reviews.
A Landlord’s Right to Respond
Landlords have the option to respond to any reviews they are not happy with and if the information posted is malicious or simply untrue, they can request that the review is removed via the website’s ‘take down’ policy. Reviews about properties owned by a previous landlord can also be removed via the same means.
