Leading rental platform Movebubble has introduced substantial changes to its service in order to try and improve the often stressful period of moving house for tenants.
New Features
Amongst its new changes designed to make the moving proves easier and more efficient for tenants, Movebubble has introduced features such as Renter Profiles and a Viewing Planner. Renter Profiles enable landlords to see ratings and reviews of a tenant from previous housemates or homeowners, which will ultimately be of benefit to prospective suitors. A Viewing Planner gives the tenant a chance to organise a viewing online.
Growth
Three months of solid growth has seen Movebubble achieve 20,000 registered users and in excess of 250,000 searches for property have taken place through the site.
CEO of Movebubble Aidan Rusbhy, said that there were exciting times ahead for the business. He said that, ‘renting is one of the last markets to be improved through collaborative technology,’ and that Movebubble are, ‘excited to be leading the way.’[1]
He went on to say, ‘we’ve seen a staggering response from renters since we launched in June. As a renter myself, I know how exciting it is to have a platform designed specifically to make our lives easier. At Summit, we’re rolling out new features that represent a milestone in our mission to reduce the costs, lack of transparency and unfair treatment that over nine million renters face while letting property in the UK. If you rent, sign up to Movebubble and make moving better.’[1]
Profiles
As mentioned, renters registered with Movebubble can build a profile that gives them the opportunity to make them look like the ideal tenant. Instead of having to provide references to letting agents, Renter Profiles gives the tenant control over their own information. This can only be shared with the tenants’ chosen potential landlords.
Movebubble renters can also provide references about their landlord or property to pass on to other prospective tenants. A survey by Movebubble of a 1,000 tenants found that around 70% would have preferred landlord references in the past, to avoid them being ripped off by rogues.
CMO of Movebubble Logan Hall says that his landlords prefer to be ahead of the game. Hall said, ‘the more forward thinking and trustworthy landlords see the value in building their online rental brands early and are jumping on-board and building their Movebubble profile.’[1]
Hall went on; ‘ We have seen this across many other industries with the likes of seller ratings on Ebay, Airbnb, Uber and many more.’[1]
Rushby pointed to the success of other industries online and questioned why this would not work in the property market. Mr Rushby stated,’ People are used to booking restaurants, gym classes and gig tickets online, so why not viewings of properties? This is how we want to operate, it’s about time people woke up to this.’[1]
[1] http://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/news_features/Movebubble-on-a-mission-to-put-renters-first