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Building trust in room renting platforms

As more tenants choose ‘lifestyle renting’, what’s needed to make the online room rental experience both seamless and secure?

Steven Hiltermann, general manager, UK, Badi

Renting is increasingly becoming the norm for many young tenants.

Data reveals that 60% of home occupiers in London will be renters by 2025 and a ‘Generation Rent’ study found that two out of five believe they’ll be renting for life.

This is driven by a generation who want more flexibility around how and where they work and live and are putting greater emphasis on striking a balance between the two.
Secure renting

In the property world, this translates to more people wanting to rent rather than be tied to a mortgage and a physical ‘base’. But to support Generation Rent, room rental marketplaces must be secure.

For example, Airbnb recently announced it was working to verify the more than seven million properties listed on its platform. By next December, Airbnb aims to have all its properties verified.

It’s the responsibility of these platforms to identify and remove fraudulent listings to improve the experience for tenants and landlords alike. Authentic recommendations go an incredibly long way to build trust in the online rental process.

For example, we take several steps to protect both landlords and renters on our platform.

Verified listings

This includes verified listings, wherein a Badi representative visits the property to take photos and confirm amenities included in the listing. If fraudulent activity is spotted, Badi’s Trust and Safety team is notified, enabling them to resolve any issues quickly. These steps help tenants to have greater confidence when booking a room online.

Proptech can also help to take the hassle out of flat hunting, like finding flatmates, seeing potential rooms and sorting the paperwork. Online room rental marketplaces allow potential tenants to learn more about who they could be living with. Some platforms take this even further.

For example, Badi uses AI to match flatmates. On top of this, we enable those looking for a room to see photos and videos of the space. Once a house hunters finds a flat that meets their needs, and their right flatmate – booking is quick online – cutting out the mountains of paperwork that’s usually required.

The future

For Generation Rent the benefits of online bookings are many. They can quickly access verified listings and find the right flatmate without the need for costly visits to a new city or country where they’re looking to find a home.

As it’s likely that people will be renting for longer, it’s critical that platforms support the new lifestyle that Generation Rent has embraced.

Read more about Badi.

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