Honest reviews, from real tenants.
Free, national, independent.
Reviews written by the people who actually lived there, scored on Value, Condition, Warmth, and Landlord. Built so the next person signing a lease knows what they are walking into.
Why Flatchat exists
Renting in New Zealand runs on a one sided information flow. Landlords and property managers know a lot about prospective tenants by the time they hand over the keys. Tenants, in return, get a glossy listing photo and a rough address. The cold flat, the broken extractor fan, the landlord who took six weeks to fix the leak; these only surface after the bond is paid and the rent is locked in.
Flatchat exists to close that gap. We started in Dunedin, where the student flatting market is dense, the housing stock is old, and the stakes of a bad flat are high. We have since opened up nationally. Anyone in any city can search a property, read what previous tenants said about it, and write their own review when they move out.
The site is free. It will stay free for tenants.
How reviews work
Reviews are written by tenants who have actually lived at the property. Each one is scored across four ratings (Value, Condition, Warmth, and Landlord) and includes a short written review. Reviews are anonymous by default.
Every review runs through an automated moderation pipeline that screens for gibberish, profanity, and content that could defame a named individual. Reviews that name specific people are rejected before they hit the site. See our content guidelines for the full rules.
Landlords and property managers have a public right of reply on every review of a property they verify ownership of. We think this is the fairest way to handle a one sided account: the review stays up, the landlord’s response sits underneath it, and readers see both.
What you can do here
Search a property or suburb
Read what previous tenants said about an address before you sign a lease.
Add a flat
If the property you lived in is not on Flatchat yet, add it and then leave the first review.
Visit the forum
Ask questions, swap notes, and call out the streets to avoid.
Read the Healthy Homes guide
Know what every NZ rental has to provide by law before you sign.
Browse the tenant guides
Bond, ending a tenancy, repairs, and the Residential Tenancies Act basics.
Where Flatchat operates
Flatchat covers all of New Zealand. Dunedin is where we started and where the data is deepest; Wellington, Christchurch, Auckland, and the rest of the country are growing as more tenants sign up. If your city looks thin on reviews today, you can be the one to change that.
Who is behind Flatchat
Flatchat was founded by Ryan Cole, a Dunedin software engineer who has had his experience of flats with ice on the inside of the windows, walls made up of more mould than paint, and landlords who you couldn’t even get a response from. The team is small and independent.
In the press
See what tenants said.
Then write your own.
Search any address in New Zealand and read what the last tenants thought of it. Free, no account needed to read reviews.