It is a herculean task for singles to find a residential place anywhere in Indian metros, as landlords do not trust them. YourOwnROOM, an online managed rental startup for singles, has brought a technology platform to resolve this, by handholding both tenants and landlords in a seamless way.
YourOwnROOM was founded by Prabhat Kumar Tiwary, an alumnus of Stanford Business School, along with Sachin Joshi and Rewat Laxman, in a small way in April 2016. It provides an online platform and associated services to lease, rent and manage co-living homes to owners and tenants.
Interacting with DH, Tiwary mentions that owners are really reluctant to give their space for singles worrying about the property’s security and sustained returns. “There is also no proper method to check the background of the tenant and so they are really insecure,” he says.
Owners believe in YourOwnROOM because they get a trustworthy professional organisation that gets them screened tenants, does legal paper work for them and assures them premium returns. In addition, the property is managed by YourOwnROOM, freeing them from the hassle of property management.
Commenting on the business model, YourOwnROOM investor and mentor Ravi Chaturvedi says that the startup’s mission is to consistently deliver a delightful customer experience to renters and build a trusted relationship with the homeowners, thus creating great value for all the stakeholders. “This is the recipe for building a sustainable, differentiated business in the cluttered residential rental market in metros,” he says.
The tenants are typically working professionals who are singles, students and people facing personal transitions like separations. In cities, the main determinant of quality of life is time spent on traffic and YourOwnROOM offers properties that are 15-30 minutes from most work location and are in safe neighbourhood. They also offer the flexibility of four months rental terms and reduced deposits, thus significantly improving the quality of lives of singles. Both owners and tenants save on brokerage since there is none charged.
YourOwnROOM emphasises on building a strong partners’ ecosystem. They are expanding network in food delivery, furniture rentals, home maintenance, housekeeping and taxi services. Tiwary said YourOwnROOM has a clear path towards growth and expansion plan, in a market led by NestAway.
“The funds raised will be utilised in property acquisition, developing technology and boosting digital marketing and sales endeavors. Currently, it has over 150 tenants and we plan to take it to over 1,000 by the end of next year. We are also planning to expand to other metros beyond Bengaluru and Pune” he says.