Community Guidelines
Honest reviews.
Fair platform.
Rent Verified exists to bring transparency to the rental market. These guidelines ensure every review is honest, helpful, and fair — for both renters and landlords.
Our Philosophy
Transparency only works when it's fair.
Rent Verified isn't a place to vent or attack landlords. It's a tool for sharing real, constructive information that helps the next renter make a better decision — and helps good landlords stand out.
We believe in accountability on both sides. Renters deserve honest information about properties and landlords. Landlords deserve the opportunity to respond, build a reputation, and dispute reviews that are inaccurate or unfair.
Every review on this platform comes from a real person with a verified phone number. Reviewers can also upload proof of residency — like a lease, utility bill, or mail with the property address — to earn a Verified badge on their review. Verified reviews are prioritized and appear at the top of every property page.
Reviews rated 1 or 2 stars that don't include proof of residency are clearly marked as Unverified — so readers always know how much weight to give a review.
Review Standards
What makes a good review?
- Specific: "The AC broke twice in July and took 2 weeks to fix each time."
- Honest: Share what was good and what wasn't — balanced reviews are most useful.
- Recent: Review within a year of your experience for the most relevant info.
- Relevant: Focus on the property condition, landlord responsiveness, and your overall experience.
- Vague: "This place sucks" — doesn't help anyone make a decision.
- Personal attacks: Attacking the landlord's character instead of describing your experience.
- Unrelated: Complaints about neighbors, the neighborhood, or things outside the landlord's control.
- Fabricated: Reviewing a property you never lived at, or exaggerating to cause harm.
Content Policy
What's not allowed
Threats & Harassment
Threats of violence, intimidation, or any language intended to harass or endanger someone.
Discriminatory Language
Hate speech, slurs, or content targeting someone based on race, gender, religion, disability, or other protected characteristics.
False or Fabricated Claims
Reviews for properties you never rented, or intentionally false statements designed to harm a landlord's reputation.
Private Information
Phone numbers, email addresses, social security numbers, or other personal information about landlords or other tenants.
Spam & Promotional Content
Advertisements, solicitations, links to unrelated services, or reviews posted solely to promote a business.
Inappropriate Photos
Images containing nudity, graphic content, or photos that don't relate to the rental property being reviewed.
Trust & Verification
How we verify every reviewer.
Most review platforms let anyone post anything with no verification at all. Rent Verified is different.
What this means
Every reviewer verifies their email and phone number via SMS. We also request proof of residency — like a lease, utility bill, or mail — to mark reviews as Verified. One person, one account, one phone number. No exceptions.
Email Verification
Every account requires a confirmed email address. No disposable or temporary email providers — a real inbox tied to a real person.
Phone Verification via SMS
Every reviewer verifies their phone number through a one-time SMS code. This prevents one person from creating multiple accounts and ensures accountability behind every review.
Proof of Residency (Verified Badge)
Reviewers can upload proof they lived at the property — a lease agreement, utility bill, or mail showing the address. Reviews with proof earn a Verified badge, appear at the top of the page, and carry more weight. Reviews rated 1-2 stars without proof are clearly marked as Unverified.
AI Content Moderation
Reviews and uploaded photos pass through automated moderation that flags profanity, spam, inappropriate content, and suspicious patterns before they appear on the platform.
Community Reporting
Users can flag reviews they believe violate these guidelines. Flagged reviews are reviewed by our team and removed if they don't meet our standards.
Review Tiers
Verified vs. Unverified
- •Reviewer uploaded proof of residency (lease, utility bill, or mail)
- •Displayed at the top of the property page
- •Green Verified badge visible to all readers
- •Carries the most weight in aggregate ratings
- •No proof of residency uploaded
- •Displayed below verified reviews
- •1-2 star reviews are boldly marked as Unverified
- •Still from a phone-verified account — just no residency proof
This system ensures that verified tenants have the loudest voice — while still allowing all reviews to be seen. Landlords can use this distinction when disputing low-rated reviews that lack proof of residency.
For Landlords
Your side of the story matters.
Rent Verified is built to be fair to landlords too. If you own or manage rental properties, here's how the platform works for you.
Claim Your Property
Verify ownership by submitting documentation (deed, tax bill, utility bill, or management agreement). Once verified, your property shows a "Claimed" badge.
Respond to Reviews
Post a public response to any review on your property. Your response appears directly below the review so renters can see both sides.
Dispute Unfair Reviews
If you believe a review is inaccurate, from someone who was never your tenant, or contains harassment, you can file a formal dispute. Our team reviews every dispute and removes reviews that violate our guidelines.
Request Reviews from Happy Tenants
Generate a unique shareable link and send it to current or past tenants to invite them to leave a review. Build your reputation proactively.
Enforcement
What happens when guidelines are violated
Review Flagged
A review is flagged by a user, landlord dispute, or automated moderation.
Team Review
Our team examines the flagged content against these community guidelines.
Action Taken
Depending on severity: warning issued, review edited, review removed, or account suspended.
Notification
Both parties are notified of the outcome. Landlords are informed if a disputed review is removed.
Ready to share your experience?
Your honest review helps renters make better decisions — and holds landlords accountable.
It takes 2 minutes. It's completely free. And every review is verified.
Have questions about our guidelines? Support@rent-verified.com · Privacy Policy · Terms of Service