With rising awareness, increase in technology, and smartphone adoption, there has been a surge in the demand for RentTech (rent technology) applications. The last five years have witnessed a vast majority of landlords across the UAE realising the significance of RentTech applications to maintain better control over the rentals.

RentTech applications have proved to be a remedy during Covid-19 in maintaining social distancing and safeguarding landlords from the pandemic. RentTech has completely digitalised the landlord-tenant relationship. The process of showing rentals, collecting rent cheques, and lease signings are now being done through RentTech applications.

Here are the top 5 ways RentTech applications are simplifying real estate operations –

1. Targeting the potential tenant

RentTech platforms and applications are empowering landlords in initiating a well-planned and appealing online rental advertisement to effectively target tenants for their vacant properties. RentTech is also making it easier for the tenants to get in touch with their potential landlords and show their interest in moving to the particular property by just providing their details on the online rental application in a few clicks.

2. Easing the tenant onboarding process

Completing a tenant onboarding process is indeed an uphill battle for both landlords as well as tenants. This complex process involves conducting pre-screening of tenants, background checks, filling tons of forms and leasing documents, and several face-to-face meetings. RentTech has simplified this bulky and cumbersome tenant onboarding process.

Using RentTech platforms, landlords can perform the onboarding process, background checks, electronic signing of the lease documents, and other necessary tasks, in a matter of a few clicks on their computer or smartphones. Once the potential tenant rental application is submitted, landlords can view it and approve or reject it and can also maintain the tenant screening reports for their future reference. RentTech platforms are also equipped with advanced video conferencing features to facilitate easy face-to-face communication among all the parties involved to ensure a swift and hassle-free onboarding process for the tenants.

3. Facilitating contactless rent collection

The last few years have witnessed several landlords in the UAE moving away from the traditional methods of collecting the rents (such as: cheques) to more unconventional and contactless ways such as via. mobile apps or web applications. This trend gained momentum in the UAE as well as across the globe during the coronavirus lockdown phase to maintain social distancing. Contactless Rent collection not only allows landlords to receive the payments in a few clicks from the tenants but also overcomes their frequent trips to the bank to deposit the cheque.

4. Minimizing physical trips by virtually identifying snags

RentTech is playing an instrumental role in minimizing the number of visits for the maintenance team at the resident’s properties. It allows the maintenance team to identify and resolve a vast majority of snags virtually based on the images or videos uploaded by the resident in the service or complaint request. RentTech significantly minimises the visits of the maintenance teams which has a major impact on the efficiency of the team resulting in faster resolution of residents’ complaints.

5. Managing the lease agreements

The economic downturns and job losses in 2020 have resulted in a proliferation in the number of landlords switching to month-to-month leases to support the tenants going through a tough phase. Landlords are largely embracing the flexibility offered by month-to-month leases due to the suspension of evictions as it facilitates them to terminate the lease at the end of the month if required. RentTech applications are facilitating the landlords in managing the entire process of sending and signing lease agreements virtually. The role of RentTech is also pivotal in empowering landlords in monitoring the expiry dates of the leases on their computers from the comfort of their homes.

The author, Aditya Rawat is the Content Specialist & Client Nurturing Officer at KAIZEN AMS