Getting the tenants talking
Opportunity is knocking in the increasingly sophisticated rental market. Anuja Nadkarni reports.
As high house prices drive more people into renting long-term, business opportunities are emerging for start-ups wanting to improve the experience.
Propd, a Kiwi start-up that launched this month, is trying to bridge the communication gap between renters and landlords by offering small operators a service that large-scale property managers already have.
Co-founder Loren Burnett said tenants could create their resume and apply for multiple listings at once through the website. At the same time, the property managers or landlords could list properties, do background checks and shortlist tenants.
‘‘This avoids 30 people showing up to a viewing and not being able to get noticed. Everyone gets a fair chance this way. We want to give power to the tenants,’’ Burnett said.
Colliers research and consulting national director Alan McMahon said unaffordable housing, especially in Auckland, was pushing more people into long-term renting.
As a result, there were more opportunities for innovation,
McMahon said.
‘‘The big property management companies have the 24-hour helpdesk and professionalism and expertise that small-time landlords just don’t have. Typically agreements between investors that own one or two properties and tenants are not perfectly clear and landlords just aren’t well set up to respond quickly,’’ McMahon said.
‘‘There is absolutely more room for innovation here, there’s a growing need for homes to be rented and bought.’’
Another Kiwi business, Tapi, is geared more towards meeting the needs of property managers with more than 100 properties.
The website helps tenants communicate any complaints and track progress to resolution.
The idea to set up Tapi came to its co-founder, Tal Meser, through his own bad experience with his landlord.
‘‘A job that should’ve taken a week ended up taking three months and cost the landlord thousands of dollars due to simple miscommunication on all ends,’’ Meser said.
Meser said he expected more services would pop up in the sector to benefit tenants, property managers and landlords.
‘‘I think as the market gets more mature we’ll see a great shift into further use of technology to empower the service provided in the property industry.
‘‘A key aspect in achieving that is the regulation and professional training of property managers over the next few years,’’ Meser said.
Victoria University Institute of governance and policy studies director Simon Chapple said the power imbalance would take a long time time to change.
‘‘Imbalance between renters and landlords will only change when you’ve got long-term rental relationships. That will overcome many of the problems.’’
McMahon said property developers were headed in the direction of offering long-term rental contracts and building to rent, similar to commercial tenancy agreements.
‘‘The returns these investment companies can get on on offices and shopping centres are much smaller than they used to be and there’s a strong demand from people who think they can’t ever buy a house and want to rent long term and not risk being thrown out at the landlord’s whim.
‘‘The ultimate goal is to have residential tenants to be in the same boat as office tenancies.’’