Underlining its commitment to addressing existing and emerging business challenges with innovative fintech solutions, Gurugram-based digital payments company Escrowffrr has announced the launch of its latest product, ‘Neo Rent’. The unique, escrow-based digital solution is designed to completely digitise and streamline all aspects of the rental journey for both homeowners and tenants.
Neo Rent is an ideal platform for the both the parties to transact safely and securely by dealing with KYC verified customer only. It smoothly manages the rental transactions for tenants and hold payments in escrow account. It also provides end-to-end transactions and identification checks of the tenants with useful dashboards, TDS management and rent receipts.
The COVID-19 conundrum: The need for a solution such as ‘Neo Rent’
The launch of ‘Neo Rent’ comes as a much-needed relief for the country’s real estate space, which has been struggling with a drastic slowdown in demand due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Commercial and residential rentals have been amongst the worst affected by the ongoing crisis.
This is largely due to the heavy dependence that the existing rental processes have on physical interventions at each stage. Copies of KYC-related documents are exchanged between the transacting parties while the agreement is physically countersigned and notarised. Similarly, physical visits are required while vacating the property, as the owner and the tenant mutually agree on the condition of the property. The refund of the security amount is also a big area of concern, as neither party wants to lose out financially.
Moreover, the relevance of digital-based transactions across sectors will continue to persist in the post-lockdown, post-pandemic world. In fact, it is only expected to grow considering the WHO’s announcement that COVID-19 may never go away and we will simply need to adapt our lifestyles in sync with this fact. Consequently, the post-COVID-19 economy will be marked by the continuance of social distancing protocols and a focus towards minimising one’s social contact environment. Against this backdrop, the rental real estate will inevitably have to reflect the changes in the lifestyles of tenants, thus unlocking the next stage of its evolution. And new-age, escrow-based fintech services comprises the key to achieve this.
‘Neo Rent’ addresses all of these concerns by utilising digital technology to counter the inefficiencies, fragmentation, and lack of trust within the Indian real estate space while empowering all relevant stakeholders with a seamless, contactless, and paperless rental experience. The escrow-based ecosystem enables the KYC process to be completed digitally through the secure transfer of relevant documents between the transacting parties before proceeding to order stamp paper, finalise the agreement and sign the document in a completely paperless process. Deposits and advance rent are held in a secure third-party account for the property owner, while digital possession and month-on-month rental receipts are provided to the tenant.
Issuing a notice for vacating the property also becomes extremely simple and hassle-free through the digital medium with just a few clicks. Upon vacation, the refund of security amount (applicable as per the pre-agreed terms and conditions) is initiated through the third-party escrow account.
Speaking about the critical need for such a product, Ashwin Chawwla, Founder & CEO, Escrowffrr, said, “The conventional process of renting and vacating a property is full of several bottlenecks and is heavily dependent on multiple physical interventions to close the loop. This, in the current environment where social distancing is the de facto norm, becomes problematic and has led to a slowdown in rental activity across India. ‘Neo Rent’ is designed to be the one-stop solution to address all of these challenges. We have crafted this offering by leveraging our unique escrow-based approach to create a holistic trust-based rental transaction suite, catering to the complete rental journey of users”
With an initial launch in Gurugram, Escrowffrr plans to soon roll out ‘Neo Rent’ to other high-growth regional markets across the country in the coming times.
“We are now actively evaluating opportunities for aggressive expansion across the country and are actively seeking partnerships with like-minded platforms to seamlessly plugin our platform with theirs thus making this industry-first product widely available for users in the post-COVID-19 rental landscape. We are confident that an innovative solution such as this will register strong adoption for its unique value proposition and drive a fundamental transformation within the Indian real estate ecosystem.” Ashwin concluded.