A 22-year-old student has come up with a new lettings platform in the latest attempt to “disrupt” the rental sector.
Yannick Lomete, who is studying Procurement and Supply Chain Management (Operations) at Cranfield University, is working on a student rental accommodation platform called Probbe, to launch in August.
The website provides a central platform for landlords and agents to list and manage properties and for students to find accommodation and pay rent.
Documents and messages can also be sent through Probbe as can pictures and videos when tenants need to raise an issue with a property.
It is free to list but Probbe charges a 6% service fee to landlords and letting agents on every payment a student makes on a property, from deposit to rent.
Probbe currently has 44 properties pre-listed from one letting agency and three landlords who have already signed up, as well as 256 students from just two weeks of the landing page being online.
Asked how this differs from other services such as Rentr and Movebubble, Lomete cited “innovation and user experience”.
He said: “We have implemented video technology that enables potential tenants to visualise themselves in the property to give them a real sense of belonging when trying to find that one place that is meant for them.”
Students can also make a shared wish-list among housemates, while landlords and lettings agents will have access to analytical software showing how attractive individual property advertisements are to tenants.
Lomete added: “Probbe will completely shock the market by altering and refining the process of students finding, viewing and renting out student accommodation, making it simple, convenient and exciting.”
He said the platform would also remove the need for landlords and letting agents to invest in management tools and analytical software to manage their properties.
It will first be available during a soft launch on August 17 in London, Hertfordshire and Northampton.
6%, you’re having a laugh. Doomed.
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We once had Pay Prop in who went through their spiel and finished with the cost – 10% of our turnover – It was all I could do to keep a straight face.
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Sounds interesting, but i wouldn’t say 6% is bad if the application will cut costs in other area’s.
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charges a 6% service fee to landlords and letting agents on every payment a student makes on a property, from deposit to rent.
Maybe he should have taken up a course in economics and anyone esle who believes he is right. Rip-off.
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With the way students are, this seems like something that will definetly attract them.
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An innovative product, will be interesting to see what the value propsition for landlords and letting agencies are.
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