© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
A PropTech startup designed to streamline and automate the set-up and management of new tenancies has claimed that faster and easier onboarding is crucial in the fight against rent arrears.
With the new Omicron Covid variant causing worry and consternation around the world, and the potential for further restrictions and lockdowns in the UK during the winter months, RentProfile says rent arrears could become a major problem for agents, landlords and tenants again – especially if the successful but very expensive furlough scheme isn’t reintroduced.
The firm recently announced an update to its flagship product, Onboarding, which enables tenants to easily set up Standing Orders to prospective agents or landlords, as well as providing an electronic confirmation to all parties.
“After speaking to agents, we found that they often rely on old-fashioned and unreliable methods when setting up standing orders, such as requesting a screenshot to verify that a standing order has been set up,” Paul Munday, co-founder and CEO of RentProfile, said.
“Furthermore, relying on the goodwill of the tenant to do the setup can be time-consuming and open to error, for example if they enter the wrong payment information.”
By confirming the payment information first time, and in an easy and simple manner, this prevents potential issues with payments not being made by tenants, delays to rental payments or issues with incorrect information being provided, RentProfile claims.
“We utilise Open Banking technology to ensure the tenant is directed to their bank where they can confirm the Standing Order - amount, frequency, and account to be paid to, with all the details pre-filled and just requiring confirmation,” Munday adds.
“This is all to make the process smoother, easier and less accident-prone for all parties, and to ensure agents and landlords aren’t relying on the goodwill of tenants for the set-up.”
Munday continues: “For let-only tenancies, it is possible for agents to request that the Standing Order is set up to be paid directly into the landlord’s account. Once it has been set up by the tenant, confirmation is sent to the landlord or agent in real time, providing once again that data-driven, streamlined approach.”
He said the ability to complete a set-up in as little as two-taps on a mobile device is vital in this increasingly digital, app-heavy and hands-free world – things that have been supercharged to a greater degree than ever by the pandemic.
“Issues with rental arrears often occur when there are cracks or gaps in systems and processes which allows things to slip through,” Munday says. “But these can be mitigated by having the tech in place to make the whole process of setting up a tenancy much smoother.”
He adds: “For agents and landlords, they want the security and peace of mind of knowing that rental payments are arriving into the right accounts each month. For tenants, meanwhile, they’ll want to know that their rent is being paid on time each month, without them really having to think about it. So a system which facilitates this is a win-win for everyone, and more important as uncertainty around Covid seeps back in again.”
The possibility of new rules to prevent people mixing and a fresh instruction to work from home if you can, makes tech a much more important focus again for agents and landlords, Munday says.
“It can help agents carry out their work safely, and more quickly, which is vital as we continue to live alongside the pandemic. A lot of the hassle and admin can be taken away from agents, allowing them to get on with what they do best,” Munday concludes.