Making The Deal Count

Making The Deal Count

3 Things Landlords Can Do To Protect Themselves Against Negative Reviews

Trix Van Zee

With more and more renters relying on the Internet to find suitable housing, maintaining your online reputation is critical when it comes to keeping your residential units occupied. Negative reviews left by former tenants can hinder your ability to find quality tenants in the future, so managing your online reputation should be a high priority.

Here are three things that you can do to protect yourself against negative online reviews in the future:

1. Make lease terms confidential.

Tenants can sometimes get angry when they find out that another renter isn't paying as much as they are for a similar property. Despite the fact that inflation and variable lease lengths can affect rental rates, the anger renters feel at the perceived discrepancy can drive them to leave negative reviews online.

You can eliminate this problem by working with your attorney to ensure your lease terms are confidential. Incorporating a confidentiality clause into your lease agreements prevents tenants from discussing their rates and other pertinent information with others, reducing the potential for angry online reviews.

2. Take legal action against false reviews.

While social media outlets are designed to allow users to share their feelings and opinions, any claims made against you as a landlord that are outright false can be pursued in a court of law.

To ensure that tenants don't think they can post false reviews online without recourse, you should work closely with your attorney to pursue defamatory or libelous statements. By taking a strong stance against false reviews, you deter tenants from being tempted to seek revenge by slandering your reputation as a landlord with negative and false online reviews.

3. Require advance notice to help you resolve tenants' issues.

Your attorney can help you alter your lease agreements to include a clause requiring your tenants to provide you with written notice of any issue prior to posting about the issue online.

This written notice will give you time to identify the problem, work with the tenant to reach a suitable solution, and avoid the potential for negative online feedback. Establishing a mechanism within your lease agreements that allows you to address tenants' concerns before they post about them on the Internet will help you preserve your online reputation.

Managing your online reputation is critical when it comes to finding quality tenants for your available units in the future. Avoid negative online reviews by working with an attorney like Steve Butcher Sr to make lease terms confidential, seek legal recourse against false reviews, and adding a clause requiring tenants to give you advance notice of problems prior to posting about them online. 


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Making The Deal Count

Have you ever stopped to think about how much money you have invested in your home? Although it might be tempting to overlook that paint job or the fact that the backyard didn't exist when you moved in, the money you spend on your house might matter when you move someday. Unfortunately, all of those careful improvements won't make much of a difference if you don't hire a skilled real estate attorney to protect your assets during the sale of your home. I want to make sure that you get top dollar for your place, which is why I made this blog.