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LeaseRedFlag

Methodology

How we research and verify

Official statute sources only, each verified rule matched to the cited statute text and dated, visible placeholders — no fabrication.

Primary sources only

Every verified cell in the 50-state ruleset links the statute text on the state's official site. We never paraphrase Nolo, FindLaw, RentPrep, or any secondary commentary as authority. Practitioner commentary is useful for orientation but is never the cited source for a rule.

Tiered verification priority

Tiers set the order we verify states in — by renter population — not a guarantee of how many cells are done. Every cell is either verified or rendered as a visible pending pin; we never imply a cell is verified when it is not. The live count of verified clause cells per state is shown on each state page as an n/12 badge, so what you see is always the current, real coverage.

  • Tier 1 (CA, TX, FL, NY, IL): checked first. Check the n/12 badge for the current count.
  • Tier 2 (PA, OH, GA, NC, MI): next in the verification queue. Verification here is still in progress — most cells are PLACEHOLDER-pinned today, and some Tier-2 states have no verified cells yet. Check the n/12 badge for the current count.
  • Tier 3 (remaining 40 + DC): scheduled after Tier 2, so most cells default to PLACEHOLDER. A few high-litigation clauses (e.g. security-deposit caps) are already verified for some Tier-3 states where the statute was straightforward; again, the n/12 badge is the source of truth. The state-legislature landing link is always present so users can verify directly.

What “verified” means

A verified cell's rule was matched to the cited statute text on the date it shows (“Checked November 1, 2026”). A cell whose rule did not match, or whose statute text we could not read, is labeled pending until it is rewritten against the text. Law changes; a check date is not a promise the text has not changed since.

No fabrication

When we don't know, we say so. Unverified cells render a visible PLACEHOLDER pin and link to the state-legislature landing page. We will never invent a statute citation to fill a row in a 50-state grid — fabricated citations are disqualifying for both E-E-A-T and basic ethics.

Affiliate ethics gate

Affiliate links are vetted before they appear. We exclude:

  • Eviction-mill marketing operators (services targeting landlords with "evict in N days" pitches).
  • Tenant-screening platforms that resell tenant data — fundamentally incompatible with the privacy promise.
  • Operators with active FTC consent decrees, state AG actions, or BBB pattern complaints.
  • Operators marketing predatory framing ("fight your landlord!").

v1 ships with no live affiliate links — the ethics-gate verification queue is not yet complete. Any future affiliate must clear the gate before going live; CPL alone is never sufficient.

Architecture as moat

The redact-before-hop architecture is documented at /how-our-analyzer-works. We document the pipeline so the privacy promise is verifiable at the network layer — not a marketing claim.

Corrections

If you spot a stale citation, an unverified cell that should be verified, or a state-statute change we've missed, please send a correction. The project maintainer tracks every change. See the sources page for the current citation manifest.