Founder draft — attorney review required. This document is a working draft and has not been reviewed by counsel. It may change before RentThread launches publicly.

Community Guidelines

RentThread Community Guidelines and Content Policy

DRAFT — ATTORNEY AND TRUST-AND-SAFETY REVIEW REQUIRED

Effective: {{EFFECTIVE_DATE}}
Last updated: {{LAST_UPDATED_DATE}}

RentThread exists to preserve useful firsthand knowledge about apartment living. These Guidelines apply to public and private contributions, profiles, Property Aliases, Resident Reports, ratings, votes, questions, answers, posts, replies, images, reports, appeals, and Property Representative activity.

They supplement the Terms of Use. Context, severity, newsworthiness, documentation, intent, likely harm, and account history may affect how we respond.

1. The useful-contribution standard

A useful contribution is:

  • Based on an experience you actually had or a question you genuinely need answered.
  • Specific enough to help another renter investigate or decide what to ask.
  • Clear about what you observed, what someone told you, and what is your opinion.
  • Fair about approximate timing and the management era involved.
  • Free from private information, threats, manipulation, and discriminatory housing preferences.

Examples of useful detail include the type of maintenance issue, approximate response time, recurring noise source and time of day, fee category, parking process, communication channel, move-in condition, accessibility request process, and whether conditions changed.

2. Firsthand experience and honest belief

Do not invent or exaggerate a stay, visit, application, communication, incident, or role. If you repeat information from someone else, identify it as secondhand and provide a reliable source when appropriate.

Distinguish observations from conclusions:

  • Preferred: “I submitted three requests over about 12 days before the leak was repaired.”
  • Not acceptable without a proper factual basis: “Management intentionally commits fraud.”

You may express strong opinions. Do not knowingly publish a materially false factual assertion, a forged record, manipulated evidence, or a misleading omission designed to create a false impression.

A Verified Stay confirms only a qualifying property connection under RentThread’s process. It does not verify every claim in a contribution.

3. Reviews, incentives, insiders, and manipulation

Do not:

  • Create or obtain fake Resident Reports, posts, replies, votes, followers, or engagement.
  • Review a property you did not experience in the role you claim.
  • Offer or accept compensation conditioned on a positive or negative rating or particular sentiment.
  • Coordinate accounts to inflate or suppress a score, post, answer, or representative response.
  • Ask employees, vendors, friends, or family to pose as independent residents.
  • Conceal employment, ownership, management, agency, vendor, family, or financial ties that could matter to readers.
  • Threaten a benefit, fee, lease consequence, retaliation, or legal action to suppress an honest contribution.
  • Abuse reports or copyright complaints to remove criticism.

Any permitted incentive for an honest contribution must be approved by RentThread, cannot depend on sentiment, and must be clearly disclosed in the solicitation and beside the resulting contribution. RentThread does not offer contribution incentives at launch.

Property Representatives must use their representative account and labeled Official Response tools. They may not use resident accounts or Property Aliases to discuss represented properties.

4. Privacy, personal information, and doxxing

Do not publish or request:

  • Exact unit numbers tied to an identifiable person
  • Home addresses other than the public address of the property being discussed
  • Personal phone numbers or email addresses
  • Access, gate, lockbox, alarm, or door codes
  • Government identification, leases, bills, bank or payment information
  • Private account numbers, ledgers, screening results, employment files, health records, or accommodation documentation
  • Private communications where publication would violate law or another person’s rights
  • A person’s real-time location or schedule
  • Information intended to reveal the account behind a Property Alias
  • Information that could correlate Property Aliases across different properties

Do not name a resident, applicant, minor, or nonpublic-facing employee in a dispute. Describe the role—such as “leasing staff member” or “maintenance technician”—unless the person is a public representative speaking in that role and naming them is relevant and lawful.

Never threaten to identify someone, contact their employer or family, visit their unit, or expose private records.

5. Harassment, threats, and targeted abuse

RentThread does not permit:

  • Credible threats or encouragement of violence
  • Stalking or unwanted location tracking
  • Repeated targeted insults or unwanted contact
  • Sexual harassment or exploitation
  • Extortion, blackmail, or coercion
  • Celebration of serious harm
  • Coordinated dogpiling or directing others to harass
  • Content designed primarily to humiliate a private person rather than discuss the property experience

Criticism of an organization, policy, management decision, or public-facing professional conduct is not automatically harassment. We consider whether the content addresses a relevant experience and avoids private-person targeting.

If someone may be in immediate danger, call 911 or the appropriate local emergency service. RentThread reports are not monitored as emergency communications.

6. Fair Housing and protected characteristics

Do not use RentThread to express or solicit a preference, limitation, or recommendation about who should live at a property based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, familial status, disability, or another characteristic protected by applicable law.

Prohibited examples include:

  • “Is this a good place for [racial, religious, or national-origin group]?”
  • “Are there too many families with children?”
  • “Management should not rent to people with disabilities.”
  • Coded demographic steering such as asking whether residents are “the right kind of people.”
  • Statements that housing is unavailable to or unsuitable for a protected group.

You may describe your own accessibility experience, accommodation request, discriminatory treatment, or family-related policy in factual terms. Do not publish another person’s disability, medical information, religion, sexual orientation, immigration status, or other sensitive information.

RentThread does not determine whether an event legally constituted discrimination. Use qualified counsel or an appropriate agency for legal advice or complaints.

7. Environmental, crime, safety, and personal health information

Residents may discuss observable property conditions and the property’s response, but RentThread is not a medical, environmental, engineering, inspection, crime-reporting, or safety authority.

When discussing mold, pests, air quality, structural conditions, crime, harassment, or injury:

  • State the observable condition or event and approximately when it occurred.
  • Describe a maintenance request, inspection, response, or documented test accurately.
  • Do not publish a diagnosis, symptom, medication, pregnancy, treatment, disability detail, medical record, or medical cause about yourself or anyone else.
  • Do not declare that a property condition caused a health outcome.
  • Do not claim a substance or condition was professionally or laboratory confirmed unless you have a lawful, supportable basis for that precise statement.
  • Avoid naming an alleged perpetrator who is a private person.
  • Do not post graphic content unless clearly necessary and permitted.
  • Do not tell others to ignore emergency services, clinicians, inspectors, attorneys, or government agencies.

We may restrict, redact, or remove personal health information; add context; limit graphic material; or route serious allegations for additional review without endorsing or rejecting the underlying claim.

8. Illegal and dangerous activity

Do not use RentThread to facilitate or solicit:

  • Violence, weapons misuse, arson, sabotage, or property damage
  • Theft, trespass, fraud, forgery, bribery, or extortion
  • Illegal drug sales or exploitation
  • Evading lawful housing, safety, or security controls
  • Unauthorized access to accounts, buildings, networks, or records
  • Instructions that create a substantial risk of physical harm
  • Sexual exploitation or any unlawful content involving a minor

Good-faith discussion of an experienced incident, public safety policy, tenant rights, or newsworthy event is not prohibited merely because it concerns unlawful conduct.

9. Copyright, trademarks, images, and private records

Submit only material you created or have permission or another lawful basis to use. Do not copy photographs, floorplans, listing descriptions, logos, maps, articles, or marketing graphics from a property website or another service merely because they are online.

Property names may be used in plain text as needed to identify the property being discussed. Do not create a page, alias, image, or response that falsely appears official or sponsored.

Do not upload leases, IDs, bills, resident ledgers, internal portals, email inboxes, or documents containing personal information as public content. If RentThread later provides a private verification-evidence channel, use only that channel and follow its consent and redaction instructions.

Copyright complaints and counter-notices follow the Copyright and DMCA Policy.

10. Spam, promotion, and irrelevant content

Do not post:

  • Repetitive, mass-produced, or off-topic content
  • Unapproved advertisements, referral codes, lead generation, or affiliate links
  • Rental listings, application solicitations, or offers to screen tenants
  • Contact information intended to move a dispute into harassment
  • Malware, phishing, deceptive links, or engagement bait
  • Content copied across many properties without property-specific relevance
  • Automated contributions or votes without written authorization

A Property Representative may provide relevant official contact or process information in a labeled response, but may not turn discussions into advertisements.

11. Impersonation and authenticity

Do not impersonate another person, resident, property, management company, government agency, attorney, journalist, or RentThread worker. Satire must be unmistakable and must not create a harmful false impression.

Do not alter screenshots, dates, sender information, photographs, audio, or video in a way that misleads readers about a material fact. Ordinary cropping or redaction is allowed when it does not distort meaning.

12. Reports and correction requests

Use the report tool for a specific policy concern. Identify the rule and the precise content. Do not report content merely because it is unfavorable or because you disagree.

Use the property correction process for current names, former names, addresses, management dates, and other catalog facts. Provide a source where possible.

Knowingly false reports, forged authority, abusive legal threats, and repeated attempts to reveal a Property Alias may result in restrictions.

13. Enforcement actions

Depending on severity and history, RentThread may:

  • Provide a warning or educational prompt
  • Request an edit, source, or redaction
  • Add context, a dispute label, or a correction
  • Limit reach or interaction
  • Lock a post or branch
  • Remove content while preserving a structural placeholder
  • Remove score eligibility or reverse manipulated votes
  • Restrict a feature, Property Alias, representative status, or account
  • Temporarily suspend or permanently terminate an account
  • Preserve information or refer a matter for safety or legal review

Money, advertising, property status, and positive or negative sentiment do not purchase a moderation outcome.

14. Notice and appeals

When appropriate, we tell the affected user what action occurred, the policy reason, whether the action affects account or score eligibility, and how to appeal. We may withhold details that would expose another person, reveal anti-abuse systems, compromise safety, or violate law.

Appeals should identify the decision, explain the mistake or missing context, and provide relevant nonpublic support through the approved channel. A reviewer not responsible for the original decision should handle significant appeals when staffing allows.

15. Updates and contact

We may update these Guidelines as the community and risks evolve. Material changes receive notice as described in the Terms.

Policy questions: support@rentthread.com
Legal notices: legal@rentthread.com
Copyright notices: follow the Copyright and DMCA Policy.