A new website created by UC Santa Barbara students allows Isla Vista residents to read and leave anonymous reviews about their landlord or property management company.

Inspired by “Rate My Professor,” Bruce Huang and Stanley Guo, two fourth-year computer engineering majors, created “Rate My Landlord” so residents can learn a bit more about a potential landlord before signing a lease. 

When Huang’s friend, Daniel Sanchez, a fourth-year applied mathematics major, heard about the site, he decided to help get the word out. He helped make fliers about the site and put them up throughout Isla Vista and the campus.

“I thought it was amazing,” Sanchez said. “I knew everybody wanted it. I knew it was something that everybody needed.”

The site allows users to browse through a list of Isla Vista landlords and property management companies, read reviews, add an anonymous review themselves, or add a landlord that’s missing from the site. 

Users do have to register an email to leave a review and can only leave a certain number of reviews in a short period to prevent spam or fake reviews. 

As of now the site only has a few reviews, but Sanchez, who has taken on the duties of outreach and marketing for “Rate My Landlord,” said they hope that it becomes more useful the more people use it. 

“It tells you the things that you’re not given from the landlord,” Sanchez said. “You get firsthand experience from someone who has lived at that property.”

Sanchez said it could also be a helpful tool for landlords. 

“If there are certain areas that are lacking, the website highlights that, and it is recorded there,” Sanchez said. “Landlords, if they cared about their property, they would look at this and know what to improve on the property.”

Jami Stetler, a longtime Isla Vista landlord who grew up in Isla Vista, said she thinks the site could be a great tool but she worries about people being able to say anything anonymously. 

“It’s very rare that people go on a website and say a lot of compliments about their landlords,” Stetler said. “They’re always willing to say negative things. It’s rare to have people say positive things, and when you can hide behind anonymous, I feel like it encourages the negative.”

She added that it would be helpful for landlords to know who left reviews, not for retaliation, but to understand the full context of their comments. 

“If a landlord knows who’s making the comment, they also know the context behind the comment, and know whether this is something that can be really detrimental to their business, or if it’s something that they go ‘they didn’t tell the whole story,’” Stetler said.

Additionally, Stetler noted some of the companies on the site are no longer in business, like Isla Vista Management Company, and some newer companies have yet to be added. 

“I’m happy that people are coming up with these kinds of tools,” Stetler said. “I think it’s helpful to everyone.”

The concept of a “Rate My Landlord” site has been talked about in UCSB Associated Students for years but never came to fruition. 

Then one day E.J. Raad, a third-year political science major at UCSB and external vice president for local affairs with Associated Students, was walking on campus when he saw a flier advertising the site.

After getting in touch with Huang and Guo, they integrated the site into Associated Students to market the site and hire more developers once Huang and Guo graduate — that way the website will keep going.

“We have big followings and large amounts of money to be able to really get the word out about the website,” Raad said. “I think that’s where we’re really gonna add a lot of value.”

In his experience renting in Isla Vista, Raad said it’s rare to be able to tour a place before signing a lease, and the only way to learn about the landlord and property is through Google reviews.

“It’s just a super useful tool for people who are going to sign a lease in IV,” Raad said. “I think that’s half of it, and then the other half of it is that I think it’s going to apply a level of pressure on landlords which hasn’t really existed thus far.”

Raad said members of the Santa Barbara Tenants Union have even reached out about expanding the site to Santa Barbara properties.