RentShield

Inspiration

Student housing scams are a real problem, especially for students moving to a new city or looking for accommodation under time pressure. Many fake listings look professional but ask for money before a visit, request sensitive documents too early, or offer a price that seems too good to be true.

RentShield was inspired by the need to help students quickly identify risky rental listings before they lose money or share personal documents.

What it does

RentShield is a student housing safety web app that checks rental listings for scam indicators.

Users can enter details about a rental offer, such as the rent, deposit amount, city, whether a visit is possible, whether payment is requested before the visit, whether the landlord is verified, whether a lease is provided, and whether sensitive documents are requested too early.

The app calculates a scam risk score, highlights red flags, gives safety recommendations, and helps students compare multiple listings before making a decision.

How I built it

I built RentShield as a web application using Next.js, TypeScript, React, and Tailwind CSS.

The application uses a rule-based scoring system instead of artificial intelligence. Each suspicious behavior increases the rental scam risk score. For example, payment before a visit, no possible visit, an unverified landlord, no signed lease, or early requests for sensitive documents all increase the final risk level.

I used localStorage to save listings directly in the browser, so users can compare multiple rental offers without needing an account, backend, or database.

I focused on making the app simple, fast, and easy to understand. The goal was to create a working prototype that clearly shows the risk level, explains the red flags, and gives practical safety recommendations.

Challenges I ran into

The main challenge was turning a complex real-world problem into a simple and explainable scoring system. Rental scams can happen in many different ways, so i had to choose rules that are clear, useful, and easy for students to understand.

Another challenge was making the result actionable. I did not want to show only a risk score. I wanted the app to explain why a listing is risky and what the user should do next.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Im proud of building a practical tool that addresses a real student problem in a simple and accessible way.

RentShield combines cybersecurity, privacy protection, financial awareness, and student support in one web app. I am also proud that the scoring system is transparent: users can understand exactly why a listing is considered risky.

What I learned

I learned that a useful safety product does not always need

Built With

• javascript
• localstorage
• next.js
• react
• tailwind
• typescript
• vercel