A San Francisco startup is betting that would-be tenants will jump at
the chance to bid against other renters in order to secure an apartment
in the Bay Area's superheated rental market. Rentberry, an
online price auction tool for long-term property rentals, aims to
compete with Craigslist and other "Stone Age" rental services. "Essentially, we offer a more efficient and transparent application
process which has the elements of bidding and an auction," said CEO Alex
Lubinsky. As in an eBay auction, tenants would be able to see how many people are competing for the property...Click here to read full story
The California legislature and governor passed several new laws governing the employer-employee relationship that will take effect on January 1, 2012. One of these significantly restricts the ability to conduct background checks on current and prospective employees. Under California Labor Code Section 1024.5, employers may not obtain consumer credit reports for employment purposes. While this does not seem like a significant issue, the definition of “consumer credit report” is broad, and includes “any written, oral, or other communication of any information by a consumer credit reporting agency bearing on a consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity, which is used or is expected to be used, or collected in whole or in part, for the purpose of serving as a factor in establishing the consumer's eligibility for: (1) credit to be used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, or (2) employment purposes, or (3) hiring of a dwelling unit…”