A 'proptech' platform that completely digitises the rental of housing (El Periódico, 1 Sept 2020)

• This is Propify, the platform that completely digitizes the rental of housing

• Original headline in Spanish: Así es Propify, la plataforma que digitaliza por completo el alquiler de vivienda

• Published in El Periódico on 1 September 2020

• https://byzness.elperiodico.com/es/innovadores/20200901/asi-es-propify-la-plataforma-que-digitaliza-por-completo-el-alquiler-de-vivienda-8095713

• Summary:

  • Even though this article is basically a PR piece, it's interesting because it offers some insights into the so-called "proptech", digital applications designed mostly to manage rental property, and because how mainstream media often reproduce this kind of PR content without apparently giving any thought to the social, economic and political implications of outsourcing the management of rental property to new digital apps.

  • In this case, the company is selling an app that aims at digitising the whole process, from advertising the property, to renting it out, to collecting the rent, and says it'll benefit both landlords and tenants by making them save time and money.

  • It has some particularly interesting features, as when the company says it has reached an agreement with the mutual insurance company of landlords to guarantee that the app's customers will get the rent paid by the 8th of every month regardless of whether the tenant actually pays it.

  • The English-language Wikpedia has an article on proptech: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property_technology

• Keywords: Spain, proptech, rental housing, landlords, tenants