Public rental records, made readable

Know before you sign.

A rental’s history is public. It’s just scattered. Rentrospect brings a city’s rental-housing records into one place, so renters, owners and the city can read the same record, with every fact traced back to the government file it came from.

Get updates How it works

Early private pilot in Washington, DC. More US cities to come.

Sample record · illustrative 1200 Example St NW, Unit 3 Washington, DC
Official address and unit Source: city address file · 2026-10-01
Matched
Rental business license Source: license file · 2026-10-01
Matched
Rental registration Source: registration file · 2026-10-01
Matched
Housing-code inspections No record linked yet. That’s a question, not a verdict.
Unknown

What it is

Public records. Finally readable.

Right now, the facts about a single rental live in separate systems, kept by different agencies, under different IDs. Nobody holds the full picture. Not the renter. Not the owner. Sometimes not even the city.

Rentrospect connects those records and shows you exactly how each link was made. We start with four:

  • Rental business licenses
  • Rental registrations
  • Housing-code inspections
  • Official addresses and units

How it works

Three steps. No guesswork.

  1. 01

    Gather

    We start with records the city already keeps: licenses, registrations, inspections and official addresses. Public files. Nothing invented.

  2. 02

    Connect

    We link the records that describe the same building and the same unit, then show how every one of those links was made.

  3. 03

    Cite

    Every fact carries the government file and the date it came from. Can’t make a match? We say so, plainly.

Public records are only useful if people can trust how they’re presented. Four rules hold the line.

Every fact has a source

Each record links to the government file and date it came from.

No match means unknown

A record we can’t match is a question, never a verdict about a property or a person.

Records, not conditions

We show what the city recorded, not the condition of a home today.

Independent

Rentrospect is an independent project, not a government agency.

Who it’s for

One record. Three ways in.

Renters

Look up an address

See what the city’s records say about a rental before you sign. And just as clearly, what they don’t say.

Owners & managers

See your properties the way the public will

Check your licenses, registrations and inspection records in one place. Flag anything that looks wrong.

Rentrospect Civic

For cities and their agencies

Reconcile licenses, registrations and inspections, and follow each discrepancy until it’s resolved. Finding the gap is easy. Proving it closed is the work.

Where we’re headed

Starting in DC. Built for every city.

Washington, DC is home to the pilot. It won’t be the last stop. Rentrospect is designed to work anywhere a city keeps public rental records, and we’re bringing it to more cities across the US.

Tell us where you are. We’ll keep you posted.