Tenants vetting Landlords / letting agents?

[moove]

I've noticed in my home city of Cardiff that landlords / letting agents seem to be getting particularly a lot of stick at the moment.

C4's Joe Lycett's Got your Back did a piece on one of the agents, and students seem to have responded. They're 'arming' themselves left right and centre. I've seen a few student groups setting up platforms that enable students to review their properties, letting agents, and landlords.

The landlord in me says, it would be great to be able to review letting agents themselves and see reviews on others, before opting on who would manage my property, and being able to review tenants back. But is this a good idea?

I'd be really keen to hear others thoughts on this. 

Edited May 11, 2020 by moove
incorrect title

[Richlist]

The problem is how do you ensure that the review is honest & genuine. Any tenant who had a problem/ disagreement / dispute / argument/ difference of opinion etc with their landlord could post a wildly, exaggerated and subjective review unfairly criticising the landlord & or his property. There are usually two sides to any story and this just publishes one side of it.......It's virtually worthless.

The same goes for any platform that relies on honest feedback for landlords, tenants or agents......you can't have any confidence in what's posted.

In over 20 years of letting residential property and 100's of tenants......I've not been asked once for referencies, previous tenants contact details or had any checks of any kind carried out.

Forget the idea....it won't work.

 

 

 

 

 

[Carryon Regardless]

As if Rent Smart aren't enough for Welsh LL's to deal with.

Any LL who steps out of line has a barrage of T protections coming his way these days, more so in Wales.

Since students are generally socialist until they get a well paying job I guess their criticising of the capitalist LL is just a fact of life for us.

We aren't allowed to victimise T's with such things as honest reviews, the media would enjoy themselves too much with such a thing.

 

[moove]

On 5/11/2020 at 1:19 PM, Richlist said:

The problem is how do you ensure that the review is honest & genuine. Any tenant who had a problem/ disagreement / dispute / argument/ difference of opinion etc with their landlord could post a wildly, exaggerated and subjective review unfairly criticising the landlord & or his property. There are usually two sides to any story and this just publishes one side of it.......It's virtually worthless.

The same goes for any platform that relies on honest feedback for landlords, tenants or agents......you can't have any confidence in what's posted.

In over 20 years of letting residential property and 100's of tenants......I've not been asked once for referencies, previous tenants contact details or had any checks of any kind carried out.

Forget the idea....it won't work.

I think that's a very interesting and valid point. But is the threat of highly exasperated and students disillusioned with their landlords taking matters into their own hands by setting up their own unvetted and unregulated platforms just going to stoke what is arguably a brewing fire? If both sides could be heard then would that not be a better and more regulated way of ensuring issues such as these are better managed. The tourism industry has embraced TripAdvisor, could it not be argued that the letting industry might do the same? 

21 hours ago, Carryon Regardless said:

As if Rent Smart aren't enough for Welsh LL's to deal with.

Any LL who steps out of line has a barrage of T protections coming his way these days, more so in Wales.

Since students are generally socialist until they get a well paying job I guess their criticising of the capitalist LL is just a fact of life for us.

We aren't allowed to victimise T's with such things as honest reviews, the media would enjoy themselves too much with such a thing.

There have been a number of regulations instigated solely in Wales that's true. I've not found Rent Smart particularly problematic but I suppose that differs from LL to LL, and I have a relatively small portfolio. 

I've actually put together a survey about this which I would be keen to get thoughts and opinions on from people: 

Google Forms Survey

[Richlist]

Letting to students is a unique, separate subset of the rental market.  I am under the impression that any landlord letting to students has a special set of rules that must be met e.g. bedroom size, room layout etc which is over and above those that already exist for anyone else. It's generally accepted that many students have an over expectation and as one would expect, they want the best standard for the lowest cost. Any students who believe their accommodation does not meet those special rules or whose landlord fails to carry out essential repairs can raise the issue thru their university.

There have been numerous reports in the press about false ratings on travel sites........what's the point of replicating something which carries no confidence in the accuracy of the feedback.

[Grampa]

Review sites can be a right pain for agents. In the letting industry especially as most tenants who have a deposit deduction are not happy about it. Communication and fairness is the key to reduce the malicious, exaggerated or false ones. However, if you do get a a false one it can be virtually impossible to get it amended or removed on many sites.   

I find the facebook reviews have more value because you have to have an account it also puts a picture of the person making it more personal and people can look you up. Doesnt stop dodgy ones completely though.

You have to try and get as many review as possible and on a regular basis and most people viewing can see through the odd ify one.

We had a 1 star rating on google from a person we had no connection with and a false grossly exaggerated one on yell that they wouldn't let us amend.