Marks Out of Tenancy is the website that allows tenants to rate and review their landlord – but is this TripAdvisor-style service a good thing for the private rental sector?
The key purpose of Marks Out of Tenancy is to make renting better for everyone involved. It gives tenants the ability to rate and review their landlord, letting agent, rental property and neighbourhood.
The site has recently rolled out a huge update that allows landlords to give their thoughts, allowing both sides of the story to be told. These systems ensure that only the correct landlords can respond to the right reviews.
How else can landlords benefit?
- You can now respond to tenant reviews
- Landlords can proudly display their association or affiliation badges
- Let tenants know if you accept housing benefit
- Secure and verify your landlord profile
- Receive notifications when you’re reviewed
- Receive notifications when your replies have been responded to
But why does the private rental sector need a service like this?
Well, we all know how much bad publicity landlords receive in the media. And while restaurants and hotels ask their customers to review them on TripAdvisor, the private rental sector has no such clarification on the reputation of good and bad landlords.
To help tenants polarise the good from the bad, reviews are now being used to improve the reputation of landlords that do provide a good service.
Marks out of Tenancy is also benefitting landlord associations, as it raises awareness – which may potentially increase membership – and improves the reputation of such organisations. There are also around 20,000 letting agents listed on the database, which means that tenants can find good and bad agencies to go with too.
What’s more, tenancy reviews on Marks out of Tenancy can be used by landlords to identify desirable and undesirable locations to buy their next rental properties – these reviews come directly from people living in those areas.
And don’t be put off by defamation worries – to reduce chances of potentially defamatory reviews going live, all tenant reviews are passed through a bad word and defamation filter. Any notifications of defamation will also be taken very seriously and acted upon immediately.
What do you think – is a TripAdvisor-style tool what the private rental sector needs?