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New App from Belleville will help landlords find the perfect tenant

Click to play video: 'A Belleville entrepreneur may have come up with a solution to help inexperienced landlords solve one of their biggest challenge – finding tenants who can pay the rent on time'
A Belleville entrepreneur may have come up with a solution to help inexperienced landlords solve one of their biggest challenge – finding tenants who can pay the rent on time
WATCH: A Belleville company has developed a new App that helps landlords verify the finances of perspective tenants. – Dec 5, 2019

A Belleville, Ont. company may have come up with a solution to help inexperienced landlords solve one of their biggest challenges — finding tenants who can pay the rent on time.

There is now an App for that.

Thanks to a shortage in available affordable housing in southern Ontario, landlords don’t have a problem finding applicants. Finding out which ones will make good tenants, is another matter.

Chad Guziewicz is a Belleville entrepreneur who believes he has the answer to the housing crisis, which is to encourage homeowners to share their space using an App that helps inexperienced landlords financially vet perspective tenants.

“We want people to come and be a part of the revolution that will help us solve the housing crisis,” says Guziewicz, owner of Rentify.house.

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City of Kawartha Lakes dealing with lack of affordable rental housing

In the current market, small landlords looking to rent a room, basement apartment or even their entire house, have no way of accessing the financial records of potential tenants, to validate the information they provide.

The financial risk can be high.

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“Today the process is broken,” says Guziewicz. “If you went for a loan from the bank today you would have to be stress-tested, they would check and see if you could afford the place. And landlords should be doing the same thing if tenants are moving in.”

Guziewicz demonstrated how the App works on his desk top computer. “So if the tenant decides they wanted to rent the property they would either click on the link below, down here, or the apply now button.”

The App, called Rentify.house, can be added to a rental ad, requiring the potential tenant to have their financial history checked. But they have to agree to it.

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“What the landlord would get [back] is a whole screen on information that they need, to really process that person through.” says Guziewicz.

“They’ll be able to see what their income was, what their closing balance was, if they’ve been paying their rent.”

From the perspective of the inexperienced property owner, the soon-to-be-launched App will give them the resources that large rental and property companies already have.

“The problem has been getting accurate information from our perspective,” says Jamie Troke, owner of Ekort Realty Ltd.

Troke is a property manager, who looks after single units and houses, as well as multiple units in apartment buildings.

“Trying to find the best tools to qualify their [tenant] information, to certainly vet their information, it’s been difficult.”

The Rentify.house App will be launched in the spring of 2020. It will cost a landlord under $100 to vet up to 40-rental applications, giving landlords more due diligence and some comfort in choosing the best tenants.

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Ignored & Ignited: Many Canadians struggling to find affordable homes

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