Disgruntled renters take to Yelp from time to time to rail against their buildings, but by and large, there's no go-to site for renters to write and share reviews of apartment buildings. Enter DoNotRent.com, a national review website created by a group of Chicago renters. The new site gives renters the opportunity to unbiasedly review apartments that they've toured or lived in. Users can upload photos and rate buildings from 1 to 5 on parking, noise, grounds, safety, laundry, and management. Apartment pages link to rental data by zipcode from My Apartment Map, and users can submit a contact form if they are interested in learning about available units.
The site is geared toward renters, but it gives property managers the option to claim their buildings for a small fee. This allows managers and owners to market available units through DoNotRent.com, directly respond to reviews, and let users know if a particular issue has been resolved.
As the site is new, there are not many reviews yet for New York buildings, and the existing database is not that extensive. For New York, 521 buildings are listed, while Brooklyn only has 82 listings. None exist in Queens, but users can add new buildings. Only three people have reviewed places in New York and Brooklyn, and all but one have very low ratings. The site has the potential to be a very useful resource for renters, but right now it needs more users to reach that point.
· DoNotRent.com [official]