Tenant life is a choice for some and a means to an end for many. Making it work can be tricky, whatever life stage you're at, but as is often now the case - technology has come to the rescue! Here's a few old favourites along with some lesser known apps to help transform the everyday of tenant life for you and your housemates.
Tenant App
Of course, you don't officially become a tenant until you find a place to rent right - and that's where Tenant App comes in. It does the same job as the major property websites you might use to search for rentals, but with more specific functionality because it's customised just for tenants.
Set your filters to feature your ideal price points, locations, number of bedrooms and when you want to move. You can then scroll through the results and save your favourites for later. An activity section offers details about inspections, including properties you've seen or are about to see, and applications that are in progress. You can also create lists, then scroll through all the inspections you have in one day - taking all the complexity out of those busy Saturdays of property hunting.
There's a section to add notes and rate properties so you can review things at the end of the day and refine your shortlist.
Gumtree
If you haven't discovered Gumtree by now, prepare for your life to be changed. You can start by buying a car to get you around to all the inspections, followed by curating a list of rental properties for yourself to view and shortlist, then apply for within the app.
Once you find a property and sign the lease, you can then head back to the Gumtree app to buy everything you could possibly need for your new rental along with a tonne of stuff you don't. You can even find a housemate if you don't have one yet, or a pet if you don't need to split the rent.
You can search without registering, but once you do register you access great solutions such as favourites lists, ability to create posts and sell things yourself, and access messaging.
Facebook Marketplace
Much like Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace is your portal to everything you never imagined you wanted or needed. It doesn't have its own separate app but exists within the Facebook app which makes it more convenient for those regular Facebook users.
You can search for everything from cars, to rental properties, to pot plants, to ball gowns and of course list any and all of those things for sale if you have them too. A particular favourite in Facebook Marketplace is the 'Free Stuff' section - it's a bit like hard rubbish collection day but you don't have to trawl the streets in the dead of night.
Buyers and sellers in the Marketplace can message each other through Facebook messenger and in the 'Your Account' section you can keep track of your listings for sale, save items you are interested in and keep track of whether they're still available or got snapped up by someone more decisive than you!
Hello Acasa
Not all of us have the luxury of living alone, so if share house life is you're reality, you're by now well acquainted with the dreary task of sharing bills with your housemates. First there's the division over who is going to be 'in charge' of bill paying. Then the questions over who pays what portion of which bills. There's always that one tight house mate who makes life difficult by claiming they have less showers and don't cook so should pay less on the gas or water bills, or the one who reassures you they'll go to the bank tomorrow and never does.
With Hello Acasa, you can take all the irritating conversation out of the mix and have the cold hard facts right there for everyone to see in the App. It's easy to use too - all housemates download the app and accept the invite to be connected, then the bills get added. Each housemate's share of a specific bill is collected when it falls due and is sent to the provider so nobody in the house has to take on the role of actually paying the bills either.
The app also allows tracking and sharing of general household expenses too like shopping and pizza night. Now you just need that one housemate to get a smart phone and you're good to go!
It's surprising how many people don't know about this app, because it has become a vital tool in connecting people generally, but even more so in 2020. Though fundamentally a messaging app, WhatsApp has a fantastic group function that allow you to add members to a group and communicate on all necessary (and unnecessary) topics. Families who live apart often stay connected via a WhatsApp family group, or a group of friends, a sporting team or a club will share details about meeting times, events and so on.
WhatsApp is ideal for housemates as you can chat about household issues or plans in the group and have all the conversation contained in one place. You can also text the group and ask someone to bring you a coffee in bed - possibly it's most untapped superpower.