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Comment by danpalmer | Hacker News Reader

This doesn't appear to solve the real issues I have with flat-hunting in London, namely that the agents are terrible people, and that it's impossible to search for the things you want. You can't search for "is not falling apart", "has internet over 2Mbps", "has a supermarket nearby", or "is under a 30 min commute for these 2 offices". These are the things I care about, but no one is solving these as issues.

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Equally noise levels between flats and houses, some you can hear a pin drop next door others you can hold a party without disturbing neighbours- whole aspect overlooked and no rating system, unlike heat loss.

Add to that:

Landlord is not a criminal

Does not have rats

Is not next to a squat

Not a council house

Was not previously occupied by criminals

It doesn't have elderly neighbours

No kebab / chicken shops within x metres

I'm curious - why would you not want elderly neighbours?

Actually, I don't think any of those criteria should definitively rule a place out.

Personally me neither but I can understand the other reasons to some extent

Because some are difficult - for example being nosy, over-sensitive to noise and so on.

Everyone can be difficult - I rented a room in London where the guy below us had a habit of playing shooter games on his home cinema system around 10-11 pm. During those hours, it felt like living in the warzone (constant loud explosions, shooting etc.)

That is true, but I found out that issues with living among elderly neighbours are much more troubling. So I would like to filter that out if I was ever to look for a flat again.

0 results found.

Why not an (ex)-council house?

Or do you really mean not a council house, in which case the question is "what letting agents are advertising current council houses?"

with (ex)-council house / flat there is a good chance it is surrounded by operating council houses / flats.

I don't think London's rental market problems can be solved by startups, at least not beyond what's already been achieved.

The Deposit Protection Scheme was introduced in 2007, and that made a huge difference. Landlords could no longer expect to steal deposits.

There's already schemes to license landlords renting a "House for Multiple Occupancy", whose definition varies by area. Typically, it's 3 or more people who aren't related to each other. This should be extended to all landlords.

I lived in an illegally converted flat for a year, though I didn't realise it. At the end of the year, an inspector from the council appeared, and said there shouldn't be a "37A", "37B", "37C", but just a "37". The house had been converted without planning permission _fifteen years earlier_.

3 million Londoners weren't born in the UK, and in my experience are less aware of the rights they do have. I don't know how to solve that one.

But 39% of Tory MPs, and 22% of Labour MPs, are landlords, so I don't expect the situation to change. [1]

[1] http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2016/jan/14/mp-la...

Hi Dan, Aidan here from Movebubble. We are working really hard to listen to all you renters out there facing problems. We will be adding more features like you have suggested in the next few months. We are working hard for renters to solve the problems you mentioned and trying to making renting better for all of you. If want to come along to our user sessions please get in touch.

The issue with the websites already in use by agents is that the property is almost always out-of-date.

Agents are not incentivised towards keeping listings fresh. It's better for them if they can tell the person that gets in contact that it's "just gone" and hem-and-haw about how the market is very hot at the moment. They can then show you a selection of over-priced, not as attractive properties and try to extract a purchase from a slightly more anxious version of you.

I'm not sure if this is solvable with an app to be honest. And, you will be competing against listings with attractive-looking properties that aren't actually on the market, so on the surface-level won't look as good. Good luck!

If renters can report a place as "gone" and once a few of those reports are in, the place gets delisted (or, at least, visibly marked as "reported gone" and removed from searches) will encourage agents to keep things up-to-date.

Doesn't really encourage them - if anything it gives them an excuse to never take down out-of-date listings if users are doing it for them (eventually).

Hi Aidan, would definitely be interested in coming to a user session, this is a problem I'd love to see solved! Will get in touch.

I think a lot of the issues would be solved by moving the power from the agents and lettings management services to the tenants and landlords. OpenRent is already trying to do this, and I've had good experiences with them so far.

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