online review

[landlord51]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA

Hi,

I just discovered a review of my apartment building on yahoo because a prospective tenant found it by googling the name. This was posted about eight months ago. The review had flat-out lies in it -- the person writes that the place has roaches; that management "stole" things from the person's apt; and that people in the complex "do crack." All of these are a complete lie. There are two exterminators contracted w/the building and there's been no roaches or even a person reporting roaches. The management has never stolen anything, nor has anything ever been reported stolen to the management! And there is no evidence a single person is doing crack either! I can prove at least one point by showing the contract w/the pest control services.

I noticed there has been a serious drop in applicants this year that now seems more obvious since I found this review on line. I'm fuming. And what's more is that I evicted 3 tenants at the same time this was written (3 tenants who weren't paying their rent!) and I just know this was written vindictively, as I also filed a lien each one of them for the money they still owe in back rents.

After I found this review I clicked "report abuse" and wrote in the comment section that the post had false information and it was hurting my business and for them to please remove it. I got a response from the site admins in the form of a automated message from their legal dept expressing they could not revoke the membership of the reviewer. Now what I really wanted was for it to be deleted, and this request was not honored, so the review stays up there.

Please also understand that if any of the allegations of this review were at all true, my license to operate, my insurance policy, and all of the various municipal licenses would be revoked. Further, this is a very strict and regulated township and yet the apartments continue to pass inspections -- both from the insurance company and from the township.

Question: Is there any way to legally have the post removed, somehow appealing to yahoo's legal department? Can anything be done without doing the whole legal suit thing, which would cost too much money?

thank you in advance for any advice.

landlord51What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[landlord51]

Also -- I feel this review doesn't just target the ownership of the property (me), it is also is defaming the residents of the complex.

 

[Zigner]

Question: Is there any way to legally have the post removed, somehow appealing to yahoo's legal department? Can anything be done without doing the whole legal suit thing, which would cost too much money?

Answer: You already tried and failed. It's time to talk to an attorney. It might be cheaper than you think for a letter...

 

[landlord51]

Okay, thank you, Zigner. I'll call an attorney this afternoon, ask him about writing a letter. Does this usually work?

 

[Zigner]

Okay, thank you, Zigner. I'll call an attorney this afternoon, ask him about writing a letter. Does this usually work?

There is no way for us to answer that.

 

[landlord51]

okay -- update -- the site took down the post over the weekend after I reported abuse again. I worded my grievance slightly different, and from the perspective of the tenant rather than the landlord. It's not fair my tenants are one google search away from being labeled as crack addicts, you know?

I called the lawyer back this morning to cancel the letter. He wasn't going to charge anything for me, but anyway, the online review was removed from yahoo.

thanks.