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Simon Parker
Property managers could save $17 per rental application thanks to a new service from realestate.com.au that allows potential tenants to apply online for multiple rental properties using the one form.
The free service, which is being handled by 1Form, a supplier of digital rental application services, saves renters from having to fill in a new form with exactly the same details for every single property they are interested in renting.
Property managers were also expected to benefit, with 1Form estimating that each paper-based tenancy applications costs around $17 to process. The company said this cost is based on each form taking 20-minutes for manual data entry, and another 20 minutes spent chasing tenants.
The company said property managers received 23,000 rental applications digitally in July via the new service.
According to 1Form, tenants generally submit between two and six rental applications during a search, with the average application requiring four pages of information.
To use the service, people applying for rental properties click on the apply online button located on the rental listings and fill in the form once. This then goes into a secure database where a renter can retrieve their information at any time to apply for rental properties they like.
“realestate.com.au is the only website where browsers can access 1Form VIP at absolutely no charge,” realestate.com.au said.
“The usual costs of the 1Form VIP service are either $30 for 10 days, $45 for six weeks or $50 for 13-months, which enables renters to submit as many tenancy applications as they like for the period of their license.”
Realestate.com.au said that, according to RP Data, there were just over one million rental listings nationally in the 12-month period July 2010 to June 2011. The company added that approximately 60 per cent of these residential rental listings were on its website.
In July 2011 there were around 19 million searches for rental properties on realestate.com.au, resulting in 1.3 million enquiries being made to real estate agents, with enquiries up 27 per cent year-on-year.
Each listing on average generated nine enquiries per month from prospective tenants.
