A UK company is working to simplify the rental process, digitising everything from document signing to tenancy history checks with the aim to better cater to “Generation Rent”.
Goodlord was founded in 2014 in a bid to make renting as efficient as making a purchase online or ordering a takeaway.
Its services include automatic contract generation, referencing, rent and deposit collection, e-signing and add-ons like rent protection insurance.
“By digitising the pre-tenancy process, Goodlord eliminates complications, paperwork and inefficiencies to move the rental process more in line with the expectations of a generation that expects to complete purchases, order takeaways and hail a taxi using their phone in seconds,” Co-founder and COO of Goodlord Tom Mundy says.
Unlike other start-ups that seek to replace agents with technology, Goodlord wants to “support” them, offering software that streamlines the entire letting process and benefits tenants, landlords and agents alike.
Goodlord claims its software saves up to 75 per cent of the administration costs associated with renting a property.
The company is also working on a series of further associated products designed to make renting more efficient and transparent, including “tenant passports” that allow renters to take their tenancy history and references with them.
Since its launch, Goodlord has been catering to an ever-increasing pool of tenants and is used by some of the UK’s largest estate agents, including Strutt and Parker.
By March last year they had processed around £200m worth of tenancies, the UK Telegraph reported.
Along the way, Goodlord has also attracted some serious investment from fintech venture capitalists. Series A funding saw them add £7.2 million to the coffers in 2017, and a further £7 million was raised in Series B funding this year.
This latest round of funding will be used to build new products, grow the Goodlord customer base and invest in the further development of its proprietary technology to continue to make renting “simple and more transparent for letting agents, tenants and landlords”.
There’s no word yet whether Goodlord is looking to branch out beyond the UK market, but regardless their growth is likely to continue.
As they explain: “Generation Rent means a drastic growth in the number of tenants in the market with higher levels of digital expectation, so there is now more than ever a need for agents to adapt to a changing marketplace.”
