Ringley launches automated lettings platform

Residential property consultancy Ringley Group has launched an automated lettings platform, which will harvest data and automate key processes around compliance, marketing, leasing and management.

The platform, PlanetRent, was developed in-house; its launch has been brought forward to aid landlords and agents during social distancing restrictions.

PlanetRent connects agents, landlords, tenants, contractors, accountants and site-based staff, giving each a portal to access the platform and data, so they can transact while the country is in lockdown. The lettings platform allows key documents and files to be accessed virtually, and enables fully compliant contracts to be generated that can be e-signed by landlords, tenants and agents. It also provides tenants with legally required documents, such as the government’s How to Rent checklist and Deposit Protection Scheme details, as well as energy performance and gas safety certificates.

PlanetRent also aims to protect landlords against lengthy void periods by simplifying the renewal process, as well as automatically marketing properties and triggering move-out checks if tenants choose to vacate. It also gives small landlords access to Rightmove and Zoopla, as well as the ability to create their own website to showcase their properties. Through a partnership with deposit replacement scheme Reposit also enables landlords to offer properties deposit-free. Mary-Anne Bowring, group managing director at Ringley and creator of PlanetRent, said: “Coronavirus has undoubtedly caused huge disruption to the housing market, but as the crisis fades we will still be left with the same problem of a rental market stuck in the analogue era when we are in the digital age.

“We have brought forward the launch of PlanetRent to reflect the COVID-19 landscape, with demand for remote working that won’t go away once the virus and its impact has faded. “PlanetRent has been designed to save landlords and agents, time, money and hassle, all the school-boy errors have been designed out, reports to know everything that needs to be done has been done are automatically emailed weekly and a first-class tenant experience is assured.

“We’ve mapped outcomes for every event: let, re-let, tenant substitution, vacate, repairs, marketing and everything in between. “We expect additional demand for rental properties over the coming year thanks to disruption in the for-sale market caused by coronavirus, with people putting off buying or selling their home and high street banks restricting mortgage lending.”