(RENTITORNOT.COM)
A new Winnipeg-based website developed by two brothers and their business partner is allowing tenants to rate rental properties and their landlords.
Called RentItOrNot.com, the website is built around reviews for renters of properties and landlords, including whether the property has bed bugs, how clean it is, if it’s regularly maintained and the level of noise (if at all).
“We’re the difference between living in a bad place and living in a good place,” says co-founder Ken Purdy.
“Everyone knows somebody who has been in the situation: you’re stuck in a lease for a year, and it’s horrible.”
Purdy, along with brother Don, and partner Brad Wery, say the goal of the website is to educate renters with other tenant reviews, as renters search for the best-rated apartments in their area, while avoiding the ones with issues such as bed bugs.
The site has around 51,000 Canadian properties registered with thousands of reviews. Some U.S. properties are also listed, with 30,000 new visitors viewing the site every month.
“There were a couple apartments I thought looked really sweet, but I looked it up on the website and in one case found the hydro bill was super high, or in the other one they had some issues with water pressure,” said Jaremy Ediger, 27, who recently used the website to find a rental property.
Ediger says the website is perfect because the public’s opinion is more truthful and honest than a landlord trying to get a tenant to sign a lease.
