A Regina landlord was recently left with a costly mess after a tenant moved out, and now he has taken a step towards connecting better tenants with ideal landlords in the future.
Andrew Tait has been renting one of his properties since 2011. In that time, he’s had a lot of great tenants come through his doors.
However, his most recent tenant left without paying rent for the month of June and left his property damaged.
“I still don’t have all the bills in yet,” Tait said, “but in total with missed rent, damage to the property, garbage removal, probably getting a pest expert in here as well… looking somewhere between $6,000 to $10,000.”
It’s experiences like this that motivated Tait to move forward on a website idea he’s had for over three years.
Optimized Rentals aims to match good landlords with good tenants, by having both parties leave reviews.
“We’re still in the very early phases,” he explained. “We’re looking for ideas on how to make the website better, things that both landlords and tenants would like to see.”
In order to use the website, both a landlord and a tenant will have to become a verified user. This means submitting a form of photo identification and creating a profile.
In addition to this, users will have to prove they are indeed tied to a given property by submitting a lease agreement or a utility bill.
Once this is completed, users will then be able to leave a comment or review that will be visible for future landlords and tenants to view.
The website is being launched with help from Conexus Credit Union’s Cultivator START program, and Tait is hoping to spend the next three months fine-tuning it.
“It’s just one of those things that I think can improve the overall rental market.”