Should This Be Legal?

[Obama 2012 1,714]

http://www.therrd.com/

Honest opinion?

I'm really torn... This is a lot different than a credit report AND there's a lot of scorned landlords out there who just don't like their tenants.

I don't know. I can see a big lawsuit coming over this one.

[ValerieA 350]

I understand the desire for something like this; I could have used something similar when I was a landlord. I shudder to think of the potential for abuse, though. If there was some independent way to verify what the landlord reports, maybe.

[Ban Hammer 13,343]

i can understand the purpose of the site. on the other hand,when i first came back from europe my soon to be landlady wanted to run a credit check on me. i told her no, i was not going to submit to that. i had references, and i was not going to have some credit check just to rent a house show up on my credit report. i countered her request with the offer of i'd pay her a full years rent right then, and she stopped pursuing it.

[alienlovechild 75]

There are a lot of deadbeat tenants but the landlords usually have the upper hand. They write the leases, withhold security deposits and call collection agencies sometimes on their word alone.

Last time I rented an apartment, they did a credit and criminal background check on me. Don't like it, don't live there.

[slim 1,525]

Seems to me like it's a private database and there's nothing illegal about that.

I can see a potential problem if a tenant is denied the "right" (because everything is a right now) to rent an apartment based on that list. However, I doubt the problem would be presented because of the list, it would probably be based on some other discriminatory factor. "He won't rent to me because I'm __________."

As charles! has pointed out, renting is a business decision and not too many landlords are worried about tenants who pay cash up front. Funny how tenants with a year's rent aren't discriminated against very often. "I will not submit to a credit check but I will pay a year upfront." OR..... "I know I don't have the securrrity deposit, but I'ma get it to you after the first." Hmmmm. Which one is going to get the place?

[SMR 368]

http://www.therrd.com/

Honest opinion?

I'm really torn... This is a lot different than a credit report AND there's a lot of scorned landlords out there who just don't like their tenants.

I don't know. I can see a big lawsuit coming over this one.

Well, I definitely wouldn't say it's illegal. But as soon as false information is posted that harms someone, it becomes illegal and the owners of the site could be liable. I would never put something like this up unless I had some really good lawyers.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

http://www.therrd.com/

Honest opinion?

I'm really torn... This is a lot different than a credit report AND there's a lot of scorned landlords out there who just don't like their tenants.

I don't know. I can see a big lawsuit coming over this one.

YES, it should be legal. People posting false information would be subject to civil penalties for libel and/or slander. Banning such a site because of the potential for abuse would be prior constraint, they may as well ban bottles, rags and gasoline because you MIGHT build a Molotov cocktail.

Why would a landlord be "scorned" if a tenant met their obligations? Tenants CAN keep records of their own, including rent payment check copies, copies of returned security deposit checks, etc.

I also do not see that it is different than a credit report, who monitors what someone pouts on your credit report, except YOU? And even when there are mistakes and wrong entries, and there are LOTS of those, it takes a lot of effort by the consumer to clear the report.

Not the topic, but I WOULD like to see a law making it illegal for an employer to use credit reports as a pre-hiring qualification. Many employers require you give them permission to check your credit before hiring with no opportunity to explain any report they receive.

[ErikaAndHamit 73]

Wow, I think this should be illegal. I know there are bad tenants, but as long as there aren't judgments against a tenant then the rest should be of no one's business. I know there tons of bad landlords and it's your word against theirs and sometimes one has to just "get out". Sometimes the tenant gets screwed over. I had many horrid landlords before that broke a lot of laws and one that even charged me for a dishwasher that was from the 70's that broke a month after we moved in-he was so senile he forgot it broke and I didn't want another and charged me for it along with other unfair things too many to list here. Of course landlords can get screwed too, but if that is the case, landlords can just check your credit. No need to do this. Same as he said, she said, and who wants to decipher that?

[Craneman 2]

Wow, I think this should be illegal. I know there are bad tenants, but as long as there aren't judgments against a tenant then the rest should be of no one's business. I know there tons of bad landlords and it's your word against theirs and sometimes one has to just "get out". Sometimes the tenant gets screwed over. I had many horrid landlords before that broke a lot of laws and one that even charged me for a dishwasher that was from the 70's that broke a month after we moved in-he was so senile he forgot it broke and I didn't want another and charged me for it along with other unfair things too many to list here. Of course landlords can get screwed too, but if that is the case, landlords can just check your credit. No need to do this. Same as he said, she said, and who wants to decipher that?

i take it you have never had a tenant move out in the middle of the night owing 2 months rent.

[ErikaAndHamit 73]

No, but you also haven't been a tenant where your landlord walks in without notice and without knocking in the middle of the day (against the law) to repair something. Once, nothing even needed repair-I was breastfeeding my newborn! Three different landlords. A lot of abuse happens the other way too.

[DukeOfYork 28]

I work in homeowner claims for an insurance company (you've heard of us) and I see so many claims where not only did the tenant skip town without paying several months of rent, but they also vandalized and damaged the place on their way out. I've inspected these locations and the living conditions were absolutely disgusting: beer cans piled in the sink, food left out with mold growing all over, spray painted gang graffiti, punched out holes in the walls, cigarette burns in the carpet, broken windows, etc. When I ask the landlord where the tenant went, they shrug their shoulders and say they have no idea. So there goes my potential for subrogation and/or restitution.

So yeah, I think it's a great idea to have landlords post their experience with deadbeat tenants. People do it about contractors all the time. And whose to say that renters can't have a similar website posting their experience with certain landlords?