Btw, why can't you just demand that the landlord fix the insulation? Not endorsing this action but the threat of bitching to the local entity that governs this type of thing would probably incentivize him/her to fix it. Good for you, him, and the environment.
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Not an expert but i guess it's not simple/binary. Admin/bureaucratic overhead could far outweigh any benefits for renters IMHO, best course of action is to talk to previous renter(s); if landlord reluctant -> big warning Is there a biz opportunity here : a Glassdoor for renters ?
That's a pretty good idea. Yelp does this but very very poorly. If you can get people to leave location based reviews of stuff like neighborhoods etc. and then get the landlords to respond, you have a network effect.