Starter Kit. Idea 454 of 500. Cluster 24
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.
The 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.
Ask first
- Data Protection Authority. Ask what you must do before publishing ratings of landlords and tenants.
- Department of the Registrar of Companies. Ask how to register a rating service that charges for checks.
Check before you spend
Confirm that both sides of a tenancy agree to be rated, how a rating can be challenged, and how personal details are kept private.
Find out these three numbers
- Would a landlord pay to check a tenant before signing?
- Would a tenant pay to check a landlord before moving in?
- How many tenancies start in one town each month?
A comparison from the book
Switzerland. Chapter Six
"a place where the honest move is also the winning move"
When a good record follows you, behaving well becomes the sensible choice for both sides.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.