Sorting the star from the slum landlords

It is very necessary we all need a voice. Most tenants are not lazy especially when it comes to housing standards and careless landlords who cant be bothered looking after the very people who pay their mortage for them. Without tenants they be screwed.

the Tenancy Tribunal website is accessible to both Landlords and Tenants. Tenants can do a search under their landlord's name or the property address, so this is not a new service just puttingt he same information on a different site.
If tenants want to rate their Landlords then they need to be prepared to be rated by their landlords too. Just as there are good and bad landlords so too are there good tenants and bad tenants. As in all areas of life it's the 20% that makes it difficult for the other 80%.

Most landlords have only 1 or 2 properties and have tenants that stay for atleast a year. One bad rating can therefore take a very long time to be balanced out by a good rating and in the meantime Google is indexing that page and showing that information to everyone - possibly affecting their ability to get a day job or a loan.

I wouldn't want to see one grumpy landlord having a similar effect on a tenant either.

Hi Matt,
Just had a look at the site - why don’t you put some summary figures on the number of ratings per city on the site so that people can see how much information there is to be consumed before they sign up. I wouldn’t imagine people will want to pay simply to submit content, rather wanting to be able to consume other peoples reviews as well as submit content. Another thought - perhaps offer the first few hundered free so that there is some initial content on there. Just a thought, hope it helps :)

Thanks Ainsley,

This is Bruce Gordon, director and site developer of the Tenant Support site.

Your point about making the first few hundred free to "flesh out" the database and give value to new members is sound, and I will discuss this with Matt and report back with a decision.

Thank you for your advice and for making the effort to get involved. We need more people like you!

Hi there. Theres a few issues/questions raised here that I would like to answer as a director of Tenancy Support Services.
The first was by Nancy Caiger who mentioned that basically we are reprocessing the info already found on the ministry of justice website...yes Nancy that is correct, but what the ministry site does not do, is allow Landlords who have a good rating, to advertise at a cheaper rate. I hasten to add, that Tenants are already being rated by at least 2 websites that I know of, built for that very reason, and I understand that there are bad tenants, but they are already rated/blacklisted on other sites, we are not here for that service as it already exists. Furthermore, the ministry website does not allow people to discuss things in a forum setting, our forums currently include not only subjects to do with landlords, but also sections where by area, people can discuss the best Chinese, Thai, Indian etc, restaurants and takeaways, which means if your new to a city, you wont have to go through 3-5 different places before you find the best place in town for that type of food. We discuss op shops, 2nd hand stores, cooking recipies for those that dont know how to cook, or want new idea's. we have interactive pages where members can share jokes or funny stories. We let people list by area, if they are looking for flatmates, and we have new features that will be released once those are built and tested also, so basically we provide much more then just a republishing of info, the info is simply republished as a companion to the vast selection of available things to do on our site, not as the main reason for visiting.
The second issue was raised by Sarah who was concerned that 1 rating COULD have a very bad effect on a landlord who only owns one or two properties, while this is true, its a bit negative because just as equally, that same Landlord could recieve a very good rating, and have a very positive off-spin from this. And google may well index the info, but this access to info is not public, it is locked away, accessible only to members.
Ainsley made a very valid point, as Bruce has pointed out, and we will be discussing this in detail at the nearest opportunity...
My main point in replying here is this, If a Landlord gets a good rating, then they not only get a form of free advertising, by being mentioned on our site, they also have access to real customer feedback, something which is rare, as many tenants will only mention stuff that is really having a big impact on them, so if the Landlord was overall a good Landlord, but perhaps visited a little to often for instance, then this would be reflected in the ratings and actually viewable, as each Landlord is rated by 16 questions to do with different topics, so a good landlord, may make a few mistakes and still recieve a very good review PLUS the minor things that affected the tenant will show up in these ratings, allowing good Landlords to become even better, by looking at, and taking on board, their customer feedback. Also as mentioned, good landlords will have the ability to advertise their rentals at a very competitive rate, which means that instead of hunting tenants to fill their places, tenants will come to them, to see if they have rooms/homes available. I think its important to remember that our site, although aimed at the Tenant, and the rights of the Tenant, can have a very positive effect for Landlords. Its not an "us against them" attitude we are taking here, but rather a "lets all work together" attitude, because whats good for the Tenant, is normally, also good for the Landlord, ie a house that Tenants respect and take care of. Rent payments made on time etc because the tenant respects and understands the Landlord. And in return, the Landlord respects the tenant, feels appreciation for the tenant choosing to live in that house, and understands that while the property is an investment for the landlord, for the tenant, it is their home.
We look forward to providing all of this, and more, in the forseeable future, and we think, that if Landlords AND Tenants can embrace this site, then things will go a lot better for both parties in the future.

Regards

Matthew Souden

<<the Tenancy Tribunal website is accessible to both Landlords and Tenants. Tenants can do a search under their landlord's name or the property address, so this is not a new service just puttingt he same information on a different site.>>> Nancy, we never claimed that the Tribunal decision results service we provide was new, or unique. And this is one of dozens of features that are offered to members of the site, and the list is growing daily. Our intention was to produce a level playing field because for far too long the dice have been far too heavily weighted against tenants. Only those who have something to hide need be concerned about this site. We are happy to be viewed as pro-tenant, and will continue to provide landlord ratings, forums, support, advice, tribunal results and all manner of services that offer some balance into the landlord/tenant equation.

Hi all.

Been a while and I thought it would be neat to share some news with you...we have decided that from now on, membership to our site, and use of it, will be absolutely free. We will of course charge for almost all advertising purposes, except our classifieds section, but for the average member, who has no interest in advertising businesses or rentals, we can assure you, you will never pay a cent. Hope to see you all coming on in :)

Matt at TSS