RentSmallSmall.com reforms renting, drives monthly rent payment system in Lagos
Leading new generation Real Estate group, RentSmallSmall.com, has opened business in Nigeria with clients’ landlords who have signed to collect their rents small, small or on a hassle-free monthly payment.
Otherwise, respite is underway for Lagos residents who undergo untold pains in securing apartments in the commercial city with high amount of money to pay for both landlord and agent as RentSmallSmall.com, has been established to address the complexities and intricacies associated with easily finding a suitable, affordable, choice apartment within preferred locations.
In an interview with the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of RentSmallSmall.com, Tunde Balogun, noted that the platform is a clear departure from the current practice where landlords would demand for a year and in some cases two-year rent.
He averred that “With the use of technology, RentSmallSmall.com aims to solve house rent challenges being faced by Nigerians by making the process easy, convenient and affordable with apartments as low as N50,000 per month,” noting that the platform is a clear departure from the current practice where landlords would demand for a year and in some cases two-year rent.
According to him, “It is no news that the norm in Lagos State as well as most states in Nigeria is the yearly payment of rent. A huge fraction of inhabitants and tenants largely complain about the impracticality of this scheme over the years. We realized that tenants in Nigeria are unable to access affordable houses with flexible payment just as it is done in developed countries. Hence, RentSmallSmall.com offers a unique plan that proves to be a win-win not just to tenants, but even to homeowners as well.
“It is important to state that we are not the first with a flexible payment plan but our model is definitely different as we ensure that all our tenants are insured by our partner AXA Mansard Insurance Plc. We want people to be able to pay their rent effectively and decide how they chose to stay; monthly, quarterly or yearly. Whatever is convenient for you; that’s what we are trying to make happen. People should be able to find suitable apartments with less bureaucracy and move in within 48 hours
He said the package would afford home owners the opportunity to get steady, reliable income throughout the year, adding that “Landlords who are our partners stand to gain a number of seamless advantages over others that insist on collecting one year upfront. Property owners on RentSmallSmall.com are on steady income throughout the year. Our company model and platform give high visibility to property in the market, thereby reducing vacancy period and undue wastage of finished properties. Landlord also get screened and verified tenants who are covered by insurance. This is the first of its kind in Nigeria and we are disrupting the market with our model’’
On getting properties for lease, he said, “we can’t go with all the traditional agents, though we intend working with a few credible ones soon. Right now, we are working with selected agents, who are big time player like Estate Link, Nedcomoaks and Rydal News Ltd. We are also partnering with Furnisure Nigeria to provide ‘’Rent to own’’ appliances and furniture’s for our tenants. With this package, RentSmallSmall.com tenants can get any furniture/appliances of their choice and pay flexibly.
The graduate of Business Administration from Stanford University, said, “When I moved back to Nigeria in 2015, I was told to pay for one year in advance, and agent and agreement fees separate. Knowing that these are not the norms in any sane system, l was resolved more strongly to do something about it as fast as possible.
‘’Few years down the line, I met with my partners and we wanted to solve the problem and change the market; that’s how we came up with RentSmallSmall.com and launched fully in October 2018. Our business model works in a way that landlord gives us the base rent of the property on annual basis and then we mark it up by a certain little percentage and with that mark up, we break it down into monthly payment. The landlord gets 92% of the rent while we take 8 percent. This is an advantage to tenants because from the 8%, we pay insurance which protect the tenure of the contract. This is to ensure the tenant is protected for certain months against default. A default could come as a result of job loss, critical illness or accident and the landlordbenefits here’’.
Explaining more on how it works, Balogun stressed on the ease of getting an apartment on the platform, saying “For rent seeker, when they come on our platform www.rentsmallsmall.com, they are exposed to varieties of properties and the amount range. Once you find the property you want, you then have the option of choosing either monthly, quarterly or biannually. Before we accept a tenant, we take him or her through a verification process. We will find out what he or she earns and how consistent it is, proof of identification, and we do our documentation. The landlord then gets a comprehensive report on our investigation which helps to give him an informed decision about the tenant .This is done to ensure that whoever is renting a property from us is eligible as the rent default rate in Nigeria is alarming.’’.
In his submission, Balogun noted that added that the workability and efficiency of the RentSmallSmall.com initiative is quite impressive as well as totally sustainable and it’s not hard to imagine that in the coming months, this design will be adopted by many other states across the federation, as well as other African countries that do not operate this scheme.
