By Hunter J. Wells

For Matt Trinacty, who has lived and rented in Boston for the past 10 years, it’s no secret that city living isn’t always an affordable option.

“It is really high-priced to live in Boston,” Trinacty said. “Apartments are old and run-down, and landlords have been renting them [out] for a while.”

While most students reserve their gripes for when they write rent checks, last summer, Trinacty struck out at landlords by launching a website that allows people to post and read reviews of landlords, a concept preventing future tenants from dealing with the frustration of a dishonest or difficult landlord.

Trinacty said his site,

Landlordreview.com, is still in progress, but is starting to gain momentum. Registration is free, and anyone can search for landlords in 13 U.S. cities, with new locations added regularly.

From what he has seen, Trinacty said some landlords have a tendency to take advantage of young renters, many of whom are willing to pay more for older houses that they will live in for a short period of time.

“They don’t care how bad they treat a tenant because they know it will be rented next year because of the number of people here,” he said.

Trinacty said he is hoping to change that by creating a community of informed tenants, which will ultimately hold landlords accountable.

“They know that they can do whatever they want [to tenants] and are able to fill an apartment next year, and that’s just wrong,” he said. “They shouldn’t be able to do that.”

“I want tenants to communicate and look out for each other’s backs