"Not only do tenants benefit from no longer having to tie up money in deposits, but landlords and agents achieve higher earnings"
The company announced that the move will enable residential landlords, using Spicerhaart as their agent, to access all the benefits of flatfair’s free service.
These include double the protection of up to 12 weeks’ rent instead of a limited 6-week deposit, free debt recovery for any additional claims, quicker payouts, and access to a larger pool of reputable tenants leading to faster lettings, fewer lengthy voids and no deposit paperwork.
Spicerhaart, which has 100 lettings branches, will be promoting the service to its 15,000 buy-to-let landlords across the country. flatfair enables tenants to pay a membership fee equal to the value of one week’s rent instead of a standard six-week deposit. Tenants remain liable for damages and rent arrears, just like with a deposit.
The online portal - insured by an A-rated financial institution (A.M. Best) – cuts out all unnecessary paperwork and strives to help landlords and tenants settle claims more quickly, fairly and securely, while protecting both parties through a government-authorised Independent Dispute Resolution service.
Chris Phillips, Chairman of tenancy deposit-free platform flatfair, said: “We’re thrilled to have partnered with such a well-established and progressive estate agency group that supports deposit-free renting.
Deposit-replacement schemes have proved hugely popular in Germany and Switzerland and our simple, safe and customer-friendly alternative to deposits comes without the burdens and caveats of an insurance product. Our mission is to improve financial freedom in the residential property market through the use of technology.”
Not only do tenants benefit from no longer having to tie up money in deposits, but landlords and agents achieve higher earnings, fewer voids, a reduction in tenancy disputes and greater recovery of residual losses. This yields better overall investment return and improved customer satisfaction.
flatfair builds on the strengths of the government’s deposit protection scheme whilst improving the way payments and protection work. This creates faster, more secure and fairer transactions promoting better relationships between landlords and tenants within the private rented sector.”
Paul Sloan, Lettings Development Director at Spicerhaart, added: “Many landlords are concerned that their property is not sufficiently protected by a tenancy deposit, particularly true in the light of the upcoming deposit-cap, and that lengthy void periods and penalties eat away at their rental yield. When a tenant doesn’t respond to claims, the deposit is frozen and landlords are left out of pocket.
We were highly impressed with flatfair’s innovative technology and how easy the platform was to use. We’re confident it’ll mean not only lower up-front costs for tenants but also help make our landlords’ properties more appealing. In addition, faster payouts from the platform will help our landlords to re-let their properties more quickly.”
