Payment technology firm flatfair has launched a product that processes traditional tenancy deposits faster and more securely and that will run alongside its existing ‘alternative’ service, No Deposit.

Called – predictably – Deposits, the announcement follows a successful pilot of the service with BTR giant Greystar.

While No Deposit enables agents to offer tenants the option of paying a one-off flat fee equivalent to one week’s rent (plus VAT) instead of a costly five-week deposit, Deposits will enable agents to also offer a traditional deposit payment process to their tenants.

flatfair will then manage the entire process, whichever option the tenant chooses, ensuring the choice is clear and fully compliant with the Tenant Fees Act.

Time consuming

Carmine D’Orazio, Building Manager at Greystar, says: “Bringing flatfair’s Deposits platform to Ten Degrees in Croydon has brought significant efficiency gains to a time-consuming process. Deposit alternatives have been a highly requested feature, particularly as the cost of living bites, and having both options in one platform is a much simpler process for our staff.”

Flatfair says its new service automates the traditional deposit process, offering speed and certainty and removing the chance of non-compliance – a problem several agencies have encountered expensively recently including Purplebricks.

It also claims its latest product will save agents on average an hour of admin time per deposit by transferring the money instantly via Open Banking platform TrueLayer and passed onto the agent’s preferred deposit scheme.

Gary Wright  (main pic), Co-CEO of flatfair, says: “Feedback from agents and landlords about No Deposit often mentions the simplicity and ease of use of our platform, so we aimed to bring that user experience to traditional deposits.”