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There’s a new thing that we’ve been working on at CHOICE (Australian Consumers’ Association): Rentwell – renting for humans
Rentwell will eventually be a full service platform that makes it easy, transparent, and inexpensive to have a good relationship with your Renter or Owner, with no need for an agent in between.
Our first offer is a 360° home viewer and we have an example online now.
Check it out and let us know what you think! Also sign up for early access on the site if you’d like early access to the tools.
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Sounds great not having an agent, until there’s a problem.
As a former landlord the money spent on an agent was cheap when I had to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent. And he was literally escorted off the premises by the appropriate law enforcement agency. He’d been perfect for a couple of years until it all went pear shaped.
Getting repairs done quickly and legally were handled by the agent along with the receipts for tax time, and so on.
Scumbag tenants prefer not to deal with an agent because they’ll be caught out and usually not even recommended to the owner.
As for the possessions shown in the 360 degree view, are they the owners or the tenants? If the latter you’re letting burglars know if it’s worth visiting this week.
As a former tenant I hated the agent taking photos of my possessions for their benefit. A few sheets worked wonders. Surely a vacant viewing is fairer for all? An accurate floor plan is what I personally prefer. Maybe that should be a standard feature of advertising?
Also, as a former tenant when the time came to move (property sold), the agent wanted to keep me so they actually found me another place on their books that hadn’t even been advertised. I can’t see Rentwell doing that for tenants. Can you?
Can Rentwell ensure that both parties act appropriately and follow their legal obligations? Or will they be hands off and say that the matter is between the landlord and tenant?
Frankly, so far nothing new, the 360 degree viewing is fairly common now and as mentioned above a good agent is cheap for the work they do if there is a problem.
I agree that there are indeed pros and cons to not having to engage an agent. You obviously get to save on fees but when unwanted scenarios crop up (which they often do), you would wish you had spent that little sum for an agent. They can help you settle any feud that might happen between tenants and landlords especially concerning rental arrears. They have direct contact with the relevant authority so they know which channel to go to, to help solve your problems which you otherwise would have been left in a jeopardy.
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