This new feature is an improvement in the way we let landlords change their listings after they've been approved.
The goal has always been to let landlords modify their current listings, but we also want admins to be able to screen listings. And we don't want to have to take listings offline while admins review changes. At the moment we have a slightly messy compromise—where providers can edit some 'safe' parts of the listing, but other parts are locked and require an email or phone call to the university to request changes.
This can be confusing and frustrating for landlords, and cause extra administration work. In some cases, it leads landlords to take matters into their own hands and just create a new listing with the correct details.
The new feature will resolve these problems. It puts providers 'in charge' of their listing, but at the same time it gives admins even more control over screening. Students will always only see the last approved version of each listing.
Landlords will be able to click a new 'Make changes' button on their listing. From there, they'll be able to change any part of their listing including the address and details which were previously locked. Saving these changes, they'll see the new version of their listing, with a note that their changes still need to be reviewed.
The changes are stored in the background until they've been reviewed by an admin. So at this point, students will still see the last approved version of the listing.
On the admin overview tab, an item will appear to say that some changes need to be reviewed. Clicking this item shows the listing with the changes highlighted, with options to either accept or decline the changes.
