Tech startups come to the aid of London landlords

10 August 2015 7279 Views

Becoming a professional landlord looks like an enviable job… from afar. Up close, it quickly becomes clear that it’s an occupation littered with logistical pitfalls. There is a lot to get done, and if you’re keen to do it all without the costly help of a managing estate agency, the smallest things can take up a huge amount of time.

Thankfully, the London startup tech scene is starting to provide answers. Tech startups seem to have changed their focus a lot over the last half-decade. Whereas, seven or eight years ago, you’d find many tech startups attempting to create flashy products that developers hoped would subsequently attract an audience, in more recent times the trend has been to look to the audience first to find the inspiration. The key question seems to be, ‘which daily chores, or ongoing qualms, could we use tech to help with?’

Plenty of these companies are offering services that the modern London landlord could make use of. Whether you’re looking for home restoration professionals (try 1ROOF), on-demand cleaners (try Hassle) or self storage London style (try Boxman), most chores and hurdles can now be dealt with at the touch of a button. London seems to specialise in ‘chore-tech’ nowadays – there’s even a collective of these services that have clubbed together to help out first time buyers in the capital (take a look at Got Keys).

Other startups offer very useful services that you can introduce to your tenants once they’ve moved in. Splitting bills and payments, for example, becomes far less fraught once they’re using Splittable, and grocery shopping becomes far less chore-like once they’re using Quiqup.

The Box Room website regularly publishes articles on up-and-coming on-demand startups, listing up London lifehacks that might be able to help you out. Keep an eye open for future publications, or sign up for the monthly newsletter to get it all straight to your inbox.