You know what’s not that fun? Apartment searches. Also landlords. Luckily, launching today at TechCrunch Disrupt is Rentlord, a social platform that allows landlords and lessees to painlessly create and manage their rent, leases, contracts, and much more. Rentlord boasts a socially-connected market that lets users find homes and apartments based on a trust gradient enabled by integration with your social graph. Rentlord allows users to find a home or tenant, then start a contract online, as well as connecting members of the home with one another and allowing landlords to manage the property in tandem with their tenant(s).
How does it work? Once users sign up for Rentlord, they can list their apartment or house once, including images, details, a description, at which point Rentlord automatically geotags the listing, blasts it out over social channels, and cross-posts across UK rental portals — free of charge. Users can send messages to each other to meet in person, close deals in minutes, using Rentlord’s customizable contracting utility — all from the comfort of a single platform.
The startup has been working with lawyers in Europe to draw up a contract form so that landlords and lessees can do everything online, keep track of their leases, and complete every part of the renting process on one platform. Those contracts are stored on Rentlord permanently, so you can always refer back to the contract, and never have to worry about devious landlords switching up the terms of the lease.
As part of creating an all-in-one portal for renters and landlords, Rentlord also offers users the ability to pay their rent through the platform, split bills with housemates, and receive reminders when its time to pay the rent or pay utilities. And for those on the apartment or house search, the startup’s platform enables you to locate restaurants and points of interest that are close to the location of the place you’re interested in to help you decide if its the right neighborhood for you.
And for those already renting, the platform enables you to call in a local plumber, report a leak to your landlord, and organize your domestic life. As to how they’re making money, for all those transactions taking place on Rentlord, the platform takes a commission on those transactions, though Founder Colin Tan tells me that the commission is low enough that users won’t be scared away.
Rentlord is currently available in the U.K., but it will be rolling out functionality in the U.S. over the next month. The startup also announced today that it is backed by Seedcamp (and was a finalist), the european micro seed fund for internet technology companies based in London, as well as Dave McClure’s 500 Startups.
For more on Rentlord, check ’em out at home here. Cool startup.
Presentation:
Backstage interview: