Rate the tenant – and the estate agent
TripAdvisor has a lot to answer for. Rating services has never been more popular as we all rush to our computer to check the quality of hotels, airlines, restaurants… and now landlords and estate agents. Whether you approve or not the worldwide grumble system can only get worse, with the facility to rave about a service or commend it to the grave at your fingertips 24/7.
A new website has been launched to protect the nation’s landlords, local authorities and letting agents from nightmare tenants.
Lorna Rose joined forces with two property experts to create TenantID, aiming to provide information about the history of prospective tenants which could save the lettings industry "millions of pounds a year".
Lorna said, “A recent survey showed that rent arrears in this country have reached a staggering £276m. It also showed almost one out of every eight tenants is either late or behind with their rent.
"This is having a serious effect on those who make their living from renting properties – especially those for whom it is their only source of income.
“Add to this the trail of damage and destruction some tenants leave behind them and the fact some people breach their tenancy agreements in outrageous ways and it is clear any source of information about the track record of tenants is going to be of enormous value to the lettings industry.”
TenantID is a database run for members of a nationwide network of letting agents, landlords and local authorities. Each member uploads information about their tenants and that information becomes available to the others in the network.
If a tenant has not paid rent, damaged a property, or simply vanished owing money to the landlord, then that information will be stored in the database. However, the information will only go live if approved by the tenant – so essentially, it will be more a recommendation list than a blacklist of tenants.
“This is a simple tick system which collects factual information,” Lorna said.
“What we are looking for are ideal tenants – people who are trouble free and who pay their rent.
“TenantID is not a blacklist as it includes all a landlord’s tenants but it will show straight away who is a safer bet to hand over a front door key to.”
Lorna said, “We are targeting all landlords, local authorities and letting agencies throughout the UK. The more people who join and provide the data we need, the better the service will be to everyone involved.
“We passionately believe this is a vital weapon in the war against bad tenants – all we need is the support of those we are trying to help and this could dramatically decrease the chances of nightmare tenants keeping landlords awake at night.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the webpage, Agent Tracker www.agent-tracker.co.uk says it is the first independent, verified review site for estate agents, it has had a busy start to the year with a number of new agents signing up in the last week. These include Theydons, Wilkinsons and Sandra Davidson, all located in East London.
Theydons has won its first instruction as a direct result of positive reviews received on the site. Theydons was one of three agents invited to value a property and were appointed on the basis of the positive feedback from happy customers.
Martin Reynolds, Director at Agent Tracker says, “In an industry where reputation is everything, estate agents are recognising the need to embrace the new culture of openness and transparency. With the rise of digital media and online forums, consumers are always sharing information and this allows them to demand the highest standards of customer service. As Theydons has shown, Agent Tracker is enabling agents to take advantage of this shift in consumer behaviour by proving they are better than their competitors.”
Alec Peduto, Director at Theydons, comments, “We have always prided ourselves on our service. We see Agent Tracker as an extension of the word-of-mouth recommendation that we have built our reputation on. It may seem scary at first, but customers do really value that transparency, which can only be good for our business.”
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