Property owner Steve Hanbury claims a website he has created will put an end to the constant worry that all private landlords face when they hand over the keys of their properties to new tenants.
Landlords have faced this headache for generations never really knowing if the new incumbents will be trustworthy, but Steve feels by setting up the website tenantshistory.co.uk, he has found a way to create an online community that allows both landlords and letting agents to rate tenants. Steve who has six of his sixteen properties in Bromley hopes the site will help change the ways of bad tenants. Through past experience Steve has become frustrated by tenants who quite often falsify references or treat his properties with a lack of respect. Feedback from other local landlords suggests they will sign up to the scheme and it is hoped that the site will also reduce the number of claims made on landlord insurance policies each year due to malicious damage caused by rogue tenants.
Steve said: “Over the years we have had fantastic tenants and some not so fantastic ones. There are rating websites for tradesmen, so we thought why not for tenants? We are not a blacklist for landlords to flick through; we want to shout from the rooftops about all the good tenants. It’s designed to help suffering landlords. Tenants might suddenly think that they cannot go from place to place destroying properties any more, and change their ways.”
However, there are some people who find the idea of an online database including contact details, past addresses and a personal rating as intrusion of privacy. Steve insists that having a database will benefit landlords and tenants and he even hopes to expand the website to allow the tenants to rate their landlord as well. It has been a good nine months for Steve who received a nomination at the national Landlord and Letting Awards 2012 for his website and is also inundated with invitations to speak at industry events.