How to streamline your property business with proptech

Investing a couple of hours of your time, plus a little bit of money and technology solutions can be the pathway to streamlined profits and a more passive income. Alex Daley cherry-picks a few tried and tested prop-tech options

In the last issue we looked at scaling up and one of the key themes was having the right processes and systems in place. Making good use of technology is something which can make that monumentally easier. So let’s dive into a number of property technology platforms (proptech) that are currently on the market, as well asking a few landlords for their must-use tech and tools. This won’t serve as an exhaustive list, there are over 700 prop tech companies operating in the UK, we’d be here for years covering them all. It will though, act as a starter for 10 for you to figure out what you need in your techy arsenal and how to choose one that works for you. We’ll cover three different software options that sit in slightly different places in the market.

TECH FOR: SINGLE LETS AND DEAL STACKING MANAGEMENT

Lendlord is one of the go-tos when it comes to single let management and deal stacking software, mainly due to just how all-encompassing it is. It covers most of the stuff a landlord will need, all in one place. Oh and then there’s the fact it’s free, and who doesn’t like free stuff?

The free version allows you to input all the key information and dates from your portfolio, mortgage expiry dates, gas certificates, equity, info on tenants (including deposits & referencing) the list goes on. This serves to give you a great overview.

When mortgages are coming up to fixed term expiry, they have a neat section which shows which lenders your properties meet the criteria for. It will even act as a digital online broker for you, should you wish to use them for this (both mortgage and bridging). This is partly where they make their money even as a free tool.

They have two other very handy tools, a rental deal analyser and a flip deal analyser. Allowing you to input all the key info and their system will work out your numbers. The detail here is great, including bits that many people forget about - for example holding costs (council tax, utilities etc), and also letting you project long term rental performance by including annual rent reviews in your calculations. We’re a big fan of this!

Upgrading to the paid version (£15 a month) gives you various benefits, including linking your bank account and automatically filing your tax return to HMRC.

BOOKKEEPING

Keeping track of the finances of any business is beyond key. Property, seen as much more of a passive side hustle sometimes than an actual business, is often an industry where business owners don’t have a true handle on their finances. It makes running the business harder and definitely raises your stress levels when tax season comes around.

Don’t worry, there’s a solution. For a dedicated bookkeeping and finance option, there’s Hammock which aims to provide all of your property finance items in one place. It connects with your bank and automates bookkeeping tasks and prepares tax statements, taking a whole load of hassle from your plate. Even down to tracking rental arrears and keeping an eye on those late or missing payments. It gives you a full overview of your key metrics, from profit and loss to yields and allows you to register each of your rentals.

Essentially, anything you need to know, track and have a handle on finance-wise with your business, it’s all handled in one place. Pricing starts at £4.99 so it’s not a huge investment to keep your books in order.

What we love about Hammock is that you can see it’s made by landlords. You know when you use software and it seems at times, out of touch with the property world? There’s none of that.

HMO MANAGEMENT

Many people love the cashflow that HMOs bring, but a lot less love the management aspect of the strategy. With numerous tenancies within one property, lots of comings and goings and room-specific maintenance, it can be a full-time job. COHO aims to make that aspect of HMOs easier.

COHO has a host of practical features, covering the lifecycle of your tenancies.

• The system will help advertise and manage leads and viewings from various sources all in one place.

• Once you’ve chosen your tenants, you can onboard them through COHO, customising application forms, automatically creating rent schedules, electronically signing tenancy agreements and keeping you compliant by sending compliance documents to the tenants (much of which is automated). It can even include room-specific welcome packs.

• Track maintenance requests, talking directly with tenants and scheduling repairs. Done on a room-by-room basis as well as house-by-house.

• Automatically notify when compliance renewals are due and store key documents such as warranties.

• Financial tools - helping you keep track of income, expenses and fees. Giving you a better fix on how each property is performing and where your areas of concern might be.

COHO is built both for HMO landlords and Rent2Rent operators, or those who do both, It allows you to detail what your ownership structure is with each property.

Pricing starts at £1.80 (inc VAT) per unit per month. A unit being a room, so a six-bed house = £10.80pm.

Of course, if your portfolio is mixed, with single lets and HMOs, you can add a single let property within COHO, just as one room. Meaning you don’t need a whole different software to run the management aspect of that

Tech done right can take a lot of the hassle away from managing your business, and ultimately, no landlord here will want to do more than is necessary. Some systems, for the less tech-savvy, will take time to get used to. It’s an investment though, whilst old school may be what we’re used to, a couple of hours on each system, getting used to its capabilities and inputting all of your data can save you countless hours as you continue taking over the world, one brick at a time. This list was never going to be the full list, no one has the time for that, but hopefully, it’s got you thinking about where you might start looking as you take things away from running your business in a ring-binder.

WHAT TECH DO BTL PROPERTY GROUP INVESTORS USE?

Cameron Scott: Good old spreadsheets are my main one. I use Google docs to stack up deals, track rental income and even project future capital growth. Honestly, I like to keep things simple and find this is more than enough for my needs. I do also have Quickbooks though to manage my accounting.

Kev Dendy: There is lots of data you can find on properties from a variety of useful and credible sites that can filter your search right down to the exact types of property you want. It also gives you an edge knowing what those market rates are for those areas you want to purchase in all over the UK so you can gather a picture of the actual sold prices not just the price the agents give you (helps you barter a better deal). We get in first hand with the agents calling them every week even if they don’t have anything available it’s relationship building but we can talk to them on their level knowing what’s sold with their competitors too in the area. Technology gives you an edge, try PropertyData, Rightmove (with Chrome Plugin), and Nimbus Maps.

Wes De Leur: We use Hammock for property management and certainly could not do without Xero. There is no such thing as a free dinner and if tech makes life easier and more efficient, why would you not want to use it?

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