Web Portal for Online Rent

Industry:
Real Estate

Location:
Australia

Collaboration
2020

Customer

This startup's founder, an entrepreneur from Sydney, knew from personal experience the difficulties homeowners and renters face in trying to manage their relationships remotely. He identified this as a chance to build a profitable online service that would reach the whole of Australia.

Challenge

The client envisioned an online service allowing Australian property owners to rent out their homes and generate extra income, regardless of their physical location.

Furthermore, the platform should take care of all legal formalities, guarantee full adherence to laws, and safeguard parties from potential abuses by overseeing payments, tracking late fees, and providing refunds if the tenant cancels the agreement.

To make it possible, the app was supposed to be integrated with the notary service and regional law enforcement agencies.

Solution

The client emphasized that our goal is to develop the most advanced functionality possible within a strict budget. Therefore, we primarily sought affordable options that would allow us to quickly release the first version with a basic yet comprehensive set of features. Our pick was Ruby on Rails and React.

Key App Features

Upon its initial launch, this web application included the following features.

Admin panel for property owners:

Handy tools for creating, editing, and listing properties with detailed descriptions and photo galleries.
Capability to specify rental conditions, which will be automatically included in future contracts.

User-friendly housing search for tenants:

Built-in filters and keyword search in property listings.
Ability to book a viewing appointment directly on the website.

Built-in smart contract system:

Pre-made rental contract templates with customization capabilities.
Automatic drafting of rental contracts based on the specified terms and their electronic signing by both parties.
Automatic forwarding of contracts for notarization through the notary service API.

Support chat for resolving tenant issues:

Tenants can contact the owner anytime to report a problem or malfunction, with photo evidence.
The owner and tenant can agree on terms to hire an external vendor for repairs, formalize agreements via the smart contract system, and make related payments through the app.

Supervising payments and protecting both parties' interests:

All payments are made conveniently through the app using Stripe.
The app holds the rental deposit in compliance with Australian law and releases it to one of the parties upon fulfilling the agreed-upon conditions.
The app holds the prepayment and transfers it to the owner at the agreed term, or partially refunds it to the tenant if they opt out of the deal.
The app tracks payments, alerts law enforcement on delays via API.

Team Composition and Project Timeline

Our small team, which included a UI/UX designer and 2 full-stack developers, managed to release the app in a 3-month timeframe.

Results

This online service, which enables the property owner and tenant to make agreements entirely remotely without ever meeting in person, was unique to the Australian market and quickly gained user attention, showing good traction.

Services Provided

Technologies Used

Ruby on Rails
React
Stripe