All Forum Posts by: Ryan Neuwoehner

Not to overcook the ethics issue, but the example provided highlights the rationale behind this sort of an application.  If a customer at Applebee’s is destructive in any capacity or decides they are not going to pay for their meal the manager has the option of calling the police and having them arrested.  They would then have a public record.  A landlord doesn’t have that option.  There would therefore be no need to create a list of these types of customers to be shared.

Again, this is not a system designed to complain about tenants landlords don’t care for as in your example highlighting the bad tipper annoying customer suggests.  It’s designed as a place to share (in private) details about how business was conducted.  Did they destroy the property?  Did they not pay their rent?  Having photographs of said damage would be of importance.

I know of a very large public website focused on the pharmaceutical industry where hundreds of “bad mangers” have been outed on their forums.  Folks make some pretty extreme claims on the website and I know careers have been damaged.  And no one has ever been prosecuted.  These are claims that are unsupported by any verifiable facts.  Additionally, if I were to out a bad tenant on bigger pockets I don’t think BP would be at risk of being sued.

To sue for defamation one must prove the statement is false.  In a case where pictures are provided this would be pretty tough.

I believe there could be some potential legal issues that I have to sort through before moving forward with this.  But I don’t believe ethically I’d have anything to worry about.  If a person destroys property and/or refuses to pay for services rendered they deserve whatever fate they receive.  And other vendors deserve to have access to this information if it’s out there.

Lastly, I'm not sure how this is any different than a typical reference check.  I don't think I can be sued if another landlord calls me and asks me about a previous renter.  This is just a more formal and proactive way of managing this information. 

Well said.  I'll update you on what I find out from a legal perspective.  The blackball situation could be a real problem.  I sure hope this is a possibility because it would be of major value to both landlords and to the communities saturated with renters that game the system. 

I appreciate your feedback. 

Then how is it that there are tons of publicly displayed criticisms of landlords and other businesses?  I see these on facebook all of the time.  Some of them are very nasty and totally unfounded.  Additionally, I see landlord review sites on the internet open to the public.

I can't imagine a closed group can't share info on past renters.  Especially if they include pics.  I'd like to make it public to shame people that trash homes.  However, I think that'd be going to far. 

I'll be meeting with a different lawyer soon to see if they have a different take than my personal attorney. 

Thanks

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.  I'm going to visit again with my attorney prior to pulling the trigger on this.  Still working the bugs out of the software. 

However, I'm nearly certain that a private group can share any information they want amongst the group.  I see public reviews of nearly everything online and I've never heard of anyone being sued because someone left a bad review.  In fact, some cities to maintain a list of tenants that have had significant reports made against them.  Although this is not common. 

Thanks for the feedback.

I’ve taken these considerations into account. In speaking with my attorney he has assured me that I’m in no legal jeopardy by creating a space where landlords (in a private network) can share their opinions about a previous tenant.  A good example of this occurring is where tenant groups are posting publicly negative unsubstantiated comments regarding “slum lords” on facebook.  They are also posting their home addresses and linking these posts to their family member’s accounts.This is occurring in our community regularly.

I do have concerns about the potential negative spiral a database like this could take.  However, my concerns are outweighed by the potential positives landlords (and the community) could receive from having this info at their fingertips.  Especially if pictures are provided.  Pictures usually don’t lie.  Also, what would be the value for a landlord to slam a decent tenant?  I guess it could happen, but I’m not sure why or how often it would occur.

Last year I was contacted by a landlord in town who found out I had just (that morning) rented to a single mom.  She sent me pictures of the home her and her boyfriend had just destroyed.  She informed me that they still owed her two month’s rent.  I would like to have known this info prior to renting to her.  She was only 21 and said she’d lived with her father her entire life.  Long story short, I am still renting to her.  I made her sign a new lease (since she lied on her application), did double deposit, made sure the boyfriend is on the lease, and I inspect the home more frequently.  Having this info has allowed me to better manage this property.

Information is crucial in this business and currently landlords are at a major disadvantage.  This imbalance allows people to avoid responsibility for their actions.It also prevents communities from incrementally improving their citizen population.  This would be an additional step, just like a criminal background check, credit check, reference check, etc…

I am working to create a private tenant database for my local community to be accessed only by landlords.The system will allow landlords to list the tenant’s info, property address rented, rate the tenant, upload photos of damage, and describe the circumstances of their departure from the property (ie – do they still owe rent).It’s accessible from a phone for landlords to upload and check.The idea is to create a way for a quick prescreen of potential tenants.It’s searchable by name and or address (of their previous rented location).

I’m developing this as a way to help hold bad tenants accountable for their actions and to provide some level of honest & accurate screening.

There are some potential challenges with landlords abusing the system.However, if pictures are provided or required to document damages I think that will go a long way to avoiding this.Also, I doubt landlords are going to take the time to slam a tenant who doesn’t deserve it as it would provide no value to the landlord.

In my lease I include a line highlighting the “landlord’s right to report”, which outlines that I will be reporting on the tenants actions to a 3rd party data management company.Think of this as reporting to a credit bureau.The feedback from my renters has been interesting.They are worried about future landlords seeing this and it seems to be having a positive impact.

I’m curious to know if landlords in other communities would find this of value.I’m also curious to know any thoughts you have on this.I’m hoping this would be something adopted by cities to help landlords manage bad renters.My community has been on a rampage of blaming landlords for all of the ill’s in the community.Yet they provide zero assistance in actually addressing bad renters.