As a landlord, you may have heard of RenterBall, a platform that helps landlords report troublesome tenants and share their rental histories with other property owners. While many landlords appreciate the concept, some remain sceptical, believing its effectiveness relies on widespread adoption. In this article, we’ll address such concerns by highlighting the platform’s value, even with limited uptake.
For the sake of this article, let’s use the following assumptions:
- A tenant rents a property for 2.5 years on average.
- A landlord has been a landlord for at least 10 years.
- A landlord has an average of 5 units.
Imagine a fictional town called Gotham City, home to 1,000 landlords who each own an average of five properties with four former tenants per property. This equates to 5,000 tenants living in the area.
Now, let’s say 10% of these landlords (100 in total) join RenterBall. The platform would then accumulate information on 500 current tenants and 2,000 former tenants flagged by these landlords.
With only 10% of landlords participating, RenterBall would still cover up to 50% of all tenants in the town.
You might argue that a problematic tenant could simply rent from one of the 90% of landlords not on RenterBall. While this is true, the 10% of landlords using RenterBall would benefit from a reduced likelihood of encountering bad tenants, as half the tenants in the town have already been filtered. The only risk these landlords face is from the remaining 50% of tenants.
When a landlord takes on a tenant with no RenterBall history, there is a greater risk than with a tenant who has a history on the platform. However, RenterBall can still deter tenants from behaving poorly, as they’ll be aware that receiving negative feedback could make it harder to rent again. Tenants won’t know how many landlords are actually using RenterBall, further incentivising good behaviour.
The 90% of landlords not on RenterBall will be left to deal with problematic tenants, and they will likely notice an increase in the proportion of bad tenants they encounter.
By joining the 10% of landlords using RenterBall, a landlord can expect higher rental yields compared to the 90% of landlords who have a higher chance of dealing with bad tenants. This will likely lead to more landlords signing up, making RenterBall an even more valuable resource.
As the success rate of the 10% of landlords using RenterBall increases, with fewer nightmare tenants and higher rental yields, other landlords will take notice. The platform’s popularity will grow, attracting more landlords to join.
As more landlords embrace RenterBall, the platform becomes increasingly valuable. If 20% of Gotham City’s landlords participated, they could potentially cover all tenants in the area. However, it’s important to consider that some landlords may have encountered the same tenant, others may have exited the rental market, and new first-time tenants will continuously emerge.
Expanding RenterBall’s usage across the UK ensures that even if a tenant moves to another town, they cannot hide their past. The only way a bad tenant will be able to avoid scrutiny is if they no longer rent privately in the UK.