Minimum data. Defined purpose.
Every data field needs a documented purpose. We should not collect information simply because it may become useful later, and sensitive data should receive stricter review and access controls.
Privacy, fair housing, and responsible AI
Housing is consequential.
Our safeguards should be, too.
Rentonomy is building an AI property manager for rental housing. Privacy and fair housing cannot be policies pasted on later. They must shape the data, models, workflows, approvals, and evidence from the start.
How to read this page
This is a public design and governance standard, not a claim that every control is live today. Before general availability, each commitment must map to a product control, an accountable owner, and reviewable evidence. This page is not legal advice.
01 / Privacy by design
Collect less. Explain why. Protect it for its full life.
Property operations contain identity, financial, communications, access, and home-life data. Our standard is to minimize what enters the system, make every use understandable, and keep control proportional to the sensitivity of the information.
Clear resident rights.
People should be able to understand what data is held about them and request access, correction, portability, or deletion when applicable. Requests need a documented response path and accountable owner.
Access follows the job.
Least-privilege roles, strong authentication, scoped service access, encryption, and reviewable access logs must separate what owners, teams, providers, residents, and systems can see or do.
Retention is a schedule, not a habit.
Each category of data needs a retention period tied to legal, operational, and safety requirements. Expired records should be deleted from active systems and handled consistently in backups.
Models and vendors stay inside boundaries.
Customer and resident content must not train shared models without explicit authorization. Every subprocessor needs a defined purpose, contractual limits, security review, and deletion obligations.
Incidents meet a practiced response.
A written response plan must cover detection, containment, investigation, recovery, notification, and lessons learned. The plan should be exercised before it is needed.
Two bright lines
Your data stays yours.
01We never sell resident or customer personal information.
02We never use customer or resident content to train shared models without explicit authorization.
02 / Fair housing by design
AI should make housing decisions more accountable. Never less.
The federal Fair Housing Act protects people from housing discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. State and local law may protect additional classes. Rentonomy supports the strongest applicable standard in each market.
RaceColorNational originReligionSexFamilial statusDisability
Neutral criteria, applied consistently.
Housing policies and decision rules must be written, versioned, legally reviewed, and applied consistently. Penny should not invent a new standard for an individual or property.
No protected traits or proxy shortcuts.
Protected characteristics must not drive housing decisions. Inputs that could act as proxies require review, documented necessity, testing, and removal when they create unjustified risk.
Humans own consequential decisions.
AI may gather facts, organize policy, draft communications, and recommend a next step. Final decisions affecting access to housing, individual terms, accommodations, enforcement, or eviction require authorized human review.
Every decision can be explained.
The record should show the information used, the policy and version applied, the model or workflow involved, the recommendation, the approver, and the final action. Black-box complexity is not an excuse.
Test outcomes, not only intentions.
Before launch and after material changes, Rentonomy should test accuracy, error rates, and materially different outcomes across groups when lawful and appropriate, then investigate and remediate problems.
Accommodation and accessibility are first-class workflows.
Residents need accessible ways to request help and reasonable accommodations. The workflow must support prompt review, collect only necessary information, avoid penalty or retaliation, and preserve a clear record.
The human gate
Penny can prepare the decision.
She cannot own the consequence.
Rentonomy's product standard requires authorized human approval before Penny can:
- Deny or approve access to housing
- Change rent, deposits, fees, or individual lease terms
- Reject a reasonable accommodation request
- Send a final adverse-action or eviction notice
- Override operator policy or required legal review
Authoritative baseline