Hear, hear!
What we should be pushing for is a "renter's package" that would include suchh landlord references and also SLAs (service level agreements) about maintenance. Fine, the legislation and regulations state certain things must happen, but any landlord can claim, "Oh, I'm looking into it." Without SLAs and associated penalties for failing to meet responsiveness, timeliness, and results goals, there is no teeth in what we have as renters.
By all means, ask your next potential landlord for references, if you wish not to be considered as a tenant! ;-) What we really need, though, is some backing with teeth!
Thanks for the post.
Jeff