Idea 454 of 500. Cluster 24: Proof and trust, as a business
A landlord and tenant rating service, since neither can currently check the other
The mechanism, from the book
The one thing. A country where people do not expect the rules to hold cannot build anything else, and proof can be manufactured by private people, one published record at a time.
Every idea in cluster 24 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Collect the stories of 10 tenants and 10 landlords in one town, what went wrong and what they wish they had known before signing, with permission to publish them without names. Draft a short rating form for each side, and ask a letting agent whether they would pay for checked ratings on applicants and properties. The proof is a first paid check.
- Who pays first
- A landlord renting to strangers who pays for a record of a tenant's past rent, or a tenant who pays to check the landlord first.
- What leaves today
- Property sits empty or is let badly because neither side can check the other; a published record is the proof that lets the deal happen.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. SixThe Fridge by the Road
The fridge by the road: proof that the rules hold - Ch. FifteenThe Odds
13 of 101 countries made it, and what Singapore's prosecution cost
More from cluster 24
- 451A verified-review platform for Sri Lankan businesses where the reviewer is real and the review cannot be bought
- 452Escrow services for transactions between strangers, so that the money moves when the goods do
- 453Published price lists at the tourist sites and in the taxis, with a complaints line that answers
- 455Contractor registries with completed jobs photographed and clients named
- 456Independent building inspection, so that a buyer abroad knows what was actually built
- 457Court-record and land-registry search services for the buyer abroad
Idea 454 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.