flatchecker Posted October 1, 2014 Report Share Posted October 1, 2014 Hi I'm Andrea, I'm working on www.flatchecker.com which connects landlords and renters (private rentals). We have a particular interest in improving standards and creating more transparency in the market. Our listings service is totally free and very easy to manage from your account. We've just got going and it would be great to get some feedback or suggestions for improving it. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted October 1, 2014 Report Share Posted October 1, 2014 I have a question regarding your particular interest in improving standards. Does this refer to standards of rental properties or does it also extend to improving standards of tenant applicants ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortitia Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 ..........and which geographical areas are you covering? Also what strategies are you going to use to make landlords improve their properties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave A Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 2 fundamental problems: 1.I do not like the name. I don't own any flats, only houses, so doesn't work for me. 2. The site doesn't work, I just entered "Norfolk", it comes up with a list of towns in Norfolk, but this is a mainly rural area and people could be looking for something say within a 10 mile radius of Norwich. Or just being able to enter the county would help with filters after that stage being made available. It doesn't work at all when I enter "Acle, Norfolk" followed by 2 bedrooms, moving in december, it then asks me to enter a postcode. How would I know the post code of house I don't know exists? I'm all for a free advertising oppurtunity, but it needs a bit more work. How does the web site finance itself? Ifl landlords don't pay, how does it generate income? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatchecker Posted October 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 Hi Richlist, Mortita and Dave, Hope this answers your questions: We want to connect good trustworthy landlords and renters, that’s our aim. We’re impartial - our view is that there are good and bad landlords and tenants. We plan to add a ratings system, we would try to be as transparent with this as possible and allow both sides (landlords and tenants) to comment. The site covers all of the UK although initially we will focus our marketing into a few areas. Flatchecker is for all types of properties not just flats, and has only recently gone live. It needs to be populated further by landlords listing their rental properties on it for free so the search can have results for all locations. At this stage we would love to get some feedback on using the site, perhaps you have some more suggestions for it from using it as landlords? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 There appears to be to many issues with your website in its current configuration to interest me in taking part. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatchecker Posted October 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 Hi Dave and Richlist, We don’t allow a search for a county (just believe this is too large an area) but you can search for cities (eg Norwich), towns and villages. You shouldn’t need to enter postcode to do a search. You are likely seeing no search results for Norwich simply as the site has just launched and we have just started to promote it - if you were to register and add a listing (for free) I'd hope it would appear. We have tools to easily manage your listings, a screenshot is available at www.flatchecker.com/landlords/ Appreciate the feedback so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortitia Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 Hi Richlist, Mortita and Dave, Hope this answers your questions: We want to connect good trustworthy landlords and renters, that’s our aim. We’re impartial - our view is that there are good and bad landlords and tenants. We plan to add a ratings system, we would try to be as transparent with this as possible and allow both sides (landlords and tenants) to comment. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ How on earth do you expect to do this when you will not visit the properties or speak and hear both sides of the stories. Tenants are notoriously vexatious when things go wrong and some landlords don't give a fig. What gives you the right to determine and rate people? How a many years experience do you have and what qualifications in the industry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatchecker Posted October 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 Hi Mortitia, We do not get involved in the rentals (we are not a letting agent) but we do plan on having a facility for landlords and tenants to rate each other (in a similar model to ebay). Totally agree with you about vexatious tenants and landlords who don’t care - our aim is to identify the good on both sides. At this time it would be great to have some of you register and provide feedback on our listings system, we've tried to make it as easy as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 But you seem to be ignoring the issues ! We do not get involved in the rentals (we are not a letting agent) Fair enough.....its a free site, you offer a facility and that sounds ok. but we do plan on having a facility for landlords and tenants to rate each other (in a similar model to ebay). But Ebay have processes to sort out issues regarding inaccurate feedback.....what processes will you have to control this ? Totally agree with you about vexatious tenants and landlords who don’t care - our aim is to identify the good on both sides. Surely you won't be identifying any good or bad.......the site users will, or have I got that wrong ? Don't forget one persons bad tenant is another persons good tenant and vice versa. That's definitely my last post on this thread. Good luck again.....sounds like you might need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatchecker Posted October 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 Hi Richlist, On Ebay a buyer may post that the delivery was late, and the seller may argue that they posted it on time. It’s ultimately for the bystander to decide what to believe and make a more informed decision based on that. The more ratings somebody gets the more accurate the rating will be overall. We are an experienced team with ex-employees from Skype, Ebay, BBC and Betfair with advisors from the property industry. It’s a shame if you won’t register on the site as it’s free and the main purpose of writing here was to get feedback on things like our registration and listings process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted October 2, 2014 Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 I've nothing to list as all my residential properties are fully let. By the time I have a property to advertise hopefully you'll have some feedback & sorted out your snag list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatchecker Posted October 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2014 Hey Richlist No worries if you have no listings to add at the moment, however you can register and add your property details. We store the information including photos, energy certificate etc so that it’s easy to list/re-list in the future, as ever any feedback is welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.