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A website that aims to be a version of TripAdvisor for the private rented sector has been set up, encouraging renters to rate' letting agents and landlords.

Rentalraters is a new online service which says it is turning the tables on those agents and landlords who demand large cash deposits, references and a credit check on their tenants. The introductory video explaining the site has a caption reading: Some landlords turn out to be not so great.

Hannah Williams, a businesswoman and tenant who set up the site, says neither she nor anyone else involved in the service has any previous experience in the property industry except as clients of agents and landlords. We're not property insiders she says.

The site allows landlords and letting agents to respond to a review and suggests such retorts should mention upgrades or improvements that might interest potential tenants and explain what you've done to address complaints.

However, the site promises to publish only those responses which meet its guidelines and even then the comments will only appear sometime within several business days.

There is also a facility which the site calls a take down procedure including an opportunity for an allegedly defamatory statement to be removed. To bring this to the attention of the website, complainants have to complete a Notice to RentalRaters of Defamatory Content' and send it to a London postal address - no phone number is given.

When LAT took the site for a test drive there were some unexpected results.

Enter Yorkshire' in the box where you are asked for a location to see reviews and only four entries come up - three of those are in the West Midlands and one is in Warwickshire. Enter Cornwall' and nothing comes up at all, presumably indicating how small the database of reviews is at the moment.

But we're not taking on Zoopla or Rightmove and this isn't a service where you would enter an area to find a property to rent. Renters will instead know a specific property and postcode and enter that explains Williams.

Of those reviews that we could find, attitudes towards agents and landlords seemed genuinely divided, with those complaints that were reported being over slow repairs or disputes at check-out stage when the returned deposit was at stake.

Williams says the site is in it for the long haul and after three years there may be a decision how to monetise the service, which currently carries no advertising.

Comments

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    There is already a website for this purpose called All Agents.

    • 10 June 2014 15:13 PM
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    Although i applaud the effort here, and the idealistic nature of this website, is it not fundamentally flawed If you rate an 'address' during a 'rental/tenancy period' are you not potentially penalising new landlords that are better than previous rogue owners.

    eg - Say John the landlord is a bad landlord, and gets a bad rating on the address. Then he sells to Samantha, who replaces the kitchen, paints the property and is ready to be a great owner. Are potential renters not going to look at this review that is not attached to an individual and (but instead the address) and think that Samantha is a rogue landlord too

    Am i missing something here

    • 03 June 2014 18:36 PM
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