RentShield — Legal Navigator + Incentive Platform

RentShield is a role-based platform for the Northampton rental community with three roles:

• Admin — oversees users, properties, tasks, and rewards.
• Landlord — creates properties and tasks, reviews submissions, and tracks rewards.
• Tenant — completes tasks to earn rewards and accesses AI-powered legal guidance.

It combines:

• An AI legal navigator for the Renters' Rights Act 2025 (in force from 1 May 2026).
• A task-and-reward system that encourages positive behaviours (cleanliness, energy saving, community participation) with full Admin oversight.

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Core Features

1. AI Legal Navigator (RentShield)

• What just happened? — Describe your situation; get plain-language guidance with relevant legal context and citations.
• Notice checker — Paste a landlord notice; we infer form type (e.g. Section 8), grounds, notice period, and flag issues.
• Emergency eviction — One-tap step-by-step guidance and optional voice playback; links to West Northamptonshire Council.
• Voice support — MiniMax TTS can read advice aloud for stressed or low-literacy users.

2. Roles and Permissions

• Admin

  • Create and manage landlord accounts.
  • View all users (landlords and tenants), suspend/activate accounts.
  • View all properties, tasks, submissions, and rewards.
  • Override landlord decisions in disputes; audit approvals.
  • View reports and exports (CSV / PDF) for monthly rewards.

• Landlord

  • Manage own properties.
  • Create tasks linked to properties and tenants.
  • Review tenant submissions (approve / reject with feedback).
  • View reward summaries for their tenants.

• Tenant

  • View assigned tasks and deadlines.
  • Upload image proof and comments as submissions.
  • Track submission status and reward history.
  • Use RentShield legal tools (What Just Happened, Notice checker, Emergency).

3. Data Model (MongoDB)

The app uses the rentshield database with collections such as:

• users — { name, email, passwordHash, role: \"admin\" | \"landlord\" | \"tenant\", status }
• properties — { landlordId, address }
• tasks — { landlordId, tenantId, propertyId, title, description, rewardAmount, deadline, status }
• submissions — { taskId, tenantId, imageUrl, comment, submittedAt, status, landlordFeedback, approvedById, approvedAt }
• rewards — { tenantId, month, totalReward, paidStatus }
• cases, notices, sessions — logging for legal advice flows.

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Tech Stack

• Frontend: Next.js (App Router) + React
• Backend: Python API services (see below)
• Database: MongoDB Atlas (CursorEvent cluster) via official mongodb driver
• AI: MiniMax LLM (chatcompletion_v2) + MiniMax TTS (t2a_v2)

Backend services

• property-photo-review-api/ — Property photo review and voucher issuance (landlord selects tenant, uploads photos; admin thumbs up/down; tenant gets voucher). Run from that folder; see its README for how to call the API (base URL, X-User-Id and X-Role headers, curl/fetch examples). Other backend services (e.g. user management) live in their own folders.

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Setup

1. Clone and install

   cd CursorHackaton
   npm install

2. Environment

   Copy .env.example to .env and set:

   • MINIMAX_API_KEY — Your MiniMax API key.
   • MONGODB_URI — MongoDB Atlas connection string (replace <db_password> with your Atlas user password).
   • NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL — Base URL for the app (e.g. http://localhost:3000).

   The app uses the rentshield database on your Atlas cluster (created automatically when first written to).

3. Run

   npm run dev

   Then open http://localhost:3000.

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High-Level Navigation (Planned)

• / — Landing page and role chooser.
• /what-happened — AI legal navigator: “What just happened?” flow.
• /notice-checker — Notice checker.
• /emergency — Emergency eviction guidance.
• /admin/* — Admin dashboard, user management, reports.
• /landlord/* — Landlord dashboard, properties, tasks, submissions, rewards.
• /tenant/* — Tenant dashboard, tasks, submissions, reward history + links to legal tools.

Exact routes may evolve as the implementation matures.

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Deploy (Vercel)

1. Push the repo to GitHub.
2. Import the project in https://vercel.com (Next.js preset).
3. Configure environment variables in Vercel:
   • MINIMAX_API_KEY
   • MONGODB_URI
   • NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL
4. Ensure MongoDB Atlas allows connections from Vercel IPs (or for hackathon/demo use, temporarily allow 0.0.0.0/0 and then lock it down later).

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Community Impact and Partnerships

This project is designed for Northampton and can be piloted with:

• University of Northampton — Accommodation Services and Students’ Union (students as tenants).
• Shelter Northampton — As a digital triage and self-help tool sitting alongside human advice.
• Citizens Advice Northampton — For early-stage self-help before 1:1 appointments.
• West Northamptonshire Council — For enforcement (illegal eviction, disrepair) and potential access to anonymised trend data.

Feedback and feature ideas: use GitHub Issues or your chosen contact channel.

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Disclaimer

RentShield provides general information only, not legal advice. For specific cases, users should contact a housing adviser (for example, Shelter or Citizens Advice) or a qualified solicitor.