Landlord Review App Aims To End NYC Renting Nightmares

NEW YORK, NY — A new app is hoping to take the guesswork out of renting apartments in New York City.

OpenIgloo, launched by two Brooklynites, is a platform where prospective tenants can check up on a New York City building, and its landlord, before moving in.

The app and website lets renters search a specific apartment building and read reviews and ratings from other tenants about everything from its neighbors, to owner responsiveness, heat, cleanliness, noise levels, pest control, garbage management and water pressure, according to a Time Out report. The reviews will also show if there are any COVID-19 measures renters should know about.

And aside from tenant reviews, scores of city data is also accessible on OpenIgloo, including bed bug complaints, any open violations and eviction history, according to the report.

The app was created by Allia Mohamed and Srujan Routhu who, like most New York City renters, have had their own horror stories with landlords. But OpenIgloo isn't just about complaining.

"This isn’t Yelp, where people are ranting in paragraphs about the landlord that they hate," Mohamed told the New York Post. "We tried to design it in a way that the feedback and the comments are constructive and useful for both landlords and future tenants."

So far, OpenIgloo has details about more than 100,000 New York City properties.

Read more here.