The advent of digitalisation has transformed various sectors, including the real estate market. Renting homes via online platforms has emerged as a novel trend, gaining acceptance for its numerous advantages. Still, some people harbour reservations about the online rental process. Let’s explore how digital platforms are prioritising safety, transparency, and convenience in the home rental landscape.
The Scrutinising Lens of Online Platforms
Renting a property, whether you’re a tenant or a landlord, requires careful navigation through a plethora of considerations, such as the authenticity of the information provided, contractual compliance, and respect for privacy. Online platforms have become an ally in this journey, thanks to the meticulous vetting processes in place.
The robust identity verification systems implemented by these platforms mitigate the risk of fraud. Prospective tenants are required to submit identification documents, while homeowners’ property ownership is cross-checked. Additionally, many platforms conduct physical site visits for further validation, ensuring that the listed properties match the online descriptions.
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Digital Platforms vs Traditional Brokers: A Comparative Perspective
Digital rental platforms offer a level of transparency that traditional brokers often lack. These platforms provide detailed listings, which include high-quality photos and in-depth descriptions of the property. Further, they give prospective tenants a realistic view of their potential new home, minus the brokerage fees.
On the other hand, traditional brokers might lack a comprehensive inventory, making it difficult for tenants to find a property that matches their specific needs. Additionally, there is a risk of bias and manipulation in the traditional rental process due to human involvement. The neutrality of online platforms eliminates such concerns.
Big Savings
Online platforms facilitate video tours and online inspection that saves massively on time, effort, and money. The time that would go in shortlisting properties while hopping from one to another physically with agents is saved through video tours of properties. It enables you to handpick properties that you are actually keen on. You don’t have to be dependent on the intelligence of a human factor in that case.
After sales
Once the property is finalised, there isn’t much after sales support from offline channels in case something goes wrong between tenant and owner. However, in the case of online platforms, one can report issues. Even in the case of rental agreement, the interest of both the parties are taken into consideration. In offline channels, brokers often have stronger ties with the owners and the agreement can tend to have clauses that favour them more. Online processes are fairly unbiased in that case.
Addressing Common Concerns
Another often-expressed worry is about lease enforcement. In response, digital platforms facilitate legally compliant agreements that uphold the rights of both tenants and landlords, thus securing their respective interests.
One common concern about online home rentals revolves around financial transactions. Online platforms have addressed this through secure payment gateways, ensuring a seamless and safe transaction process. Concerns about property damage are managed through agreements that outline the tenant’s responsibilities, safeguarding the homeowner’s interest.
Navigating Towards the Future
As technology evolves, online rental platforms continue to refine their offerings to improve the user experience. The integration of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence is expected to streamline the selection process, while virtual reality tours could offer tenants a more immersive way of inspecting potential homes. Furthermore, the advent of smart contracts on blockchain could revolutionise lease agreements, making them tamper-proof and entirely transparent.
In conclusion, while caution is always advised in any transaction involving assets of significant value like real estate, online home rental platforms have made substantial strides to ensure safety, convenience, and transparency. While technology can never replace human intuition and judgement, it has certainly equipped us with tools that make the rental process more efficient and secure. As we continue to embrace digitalisation, it is worth shedding our inhibitions and exploring the opportunities presented by these online platforms. After all, change is the only constant.
(By Amit Kumar Agarwal, CEO & Co-founder of NoBroker. Views are personal)