Thought Leadership by Adam Pigott CEO of Openbrix/tlyfe
How tenant readiness, digital verification and a new approach to the rental application process could change the way people compete for a home.
‘The Private Rental Sector (PRS) market has a queue, even if tenants cannot see it. And the next generation of property technology could change the way that queue works.
Paying to skip a queue is hardly a new concept. Airlines have turned it into a familiar part of modern travel, with passengers paying for priority boarding so they can avoid standing in line, secure space for their luggage and get settled before the rest of the aircraft fills up. The arrangement is generally accepted because everyone still has the opportunity to board. The difference is that some passengers have paid to make the process quicker and more convenient.
Until recently, the idea of applying the same principle to the rental market would have seemed rather more controversial. Finding somewhere to live is not the same as catching a flight, and the allocation of a home carries far greater personal and financial consequences. Yet the underlying problem is remarkably similar. Where demand exceeds supply, people compete for a limited number of places, and the ability to move through the process quickly can make a significant difference to the outcome.
The question is whether proptech can help tenants become better prepared for that competition without undermining fairness or creating a system in which access to a home increasingly depends on the ability to pay.
The invisible queue in the rental market
In competitive parts of the UK rental market, a single property can attract dozens of enquiries. For letting agents, this creates an operational challenge that extends well beyond arranging viewings. Every prospective tenant represents a potential application that may need to be assessed, with identity documents, proof of income, references and, where applicable, guarantor information all requiring attention.
These checks take time, and the information does not always arrive together. One applicant may have their documents ready immediately, while another is still trying to obtain a reference from a previous landlord or waiting for an employer to respond. An agent managing multiple properties and numerous applicants cannot process every application simultaneously, so the practical reality is that some applications become ready for consideration before others.
This creates an informal queue. It is not necessarily a queue determined by the time someone first expressed an interest in a property, nor is it always a deliberate decision by the agent to prioritise one applicant over another. It can simply be the consequence of administrative friction. The person who is ready to proceed may be easier to assess, quicker to progress and less likely to introduce delays into the transaction.
For tenants, however, the distinction between being interested in a property and being ready to rent it can be decisive. By the time an applicant has assembled their documents and completed the necessary checks, a landlord may already have selected another tenant.
The industry has spent years improving the way properties are advertised, discovered and viewed online. Yet the administrative process that follows a tenant’s decision to apply has often remained fragmented, repetitive and unnecessarily slow.
From searching for a home to being ready to rent one
This is where a different approach to the rental journey becomes interesting. Rather than waiting until a tenant finds a property before beginning the verification process, why not allow them to prepare in advance?
That is the principle behind OpenBrix’s tlyfe and its Rent Ready proposition. A prospective tenant can complete identity verification and tenant referencing before booking a viewing, including guarantor referencing where required. The resulting information can then be shared with participating letting agents when a suitable property becomes available, rather than forcing the applicant to begin the process from scratch each time.
The potential benefit is straightforward. A tenant who has already completed the necessary preparation can demonstrate their readiness to proceed immediately. Instead of spending the next several days gathering documents and waiting for responses, they can focus on finding a suitable home and making their application available to the agent.
This also has implications for letting agents. A process that allows relevant information to be prepared in advance could reduce repetitive administration, help agents identify applicants who are ready to progress and make it easier to manage high volumes of interest. In a market where speed matters to landlords as well as tenants, removing avoidable delays could improve the experience for both sides.
The wider principle is important: proptech does not always need to transform the entire transaction to deliver value. Sometimes the greatest improvement comes from identifying one persistent point of friction and removing it.
Is this really paying to jump the queue?
The comparison with airline priority boarding is useful, but it has its limits. A passenger with a boarding pass has already secured a seat, whereas a prospective tenant who has completed their checks has not secured a property. The landlord and letting agent still need to decide whether the applicant is suitable, and the property must remain affordable and appropriate for that person’s circumstances.
Being Rent Ready does not guarantee a successful application. What it can change is the applicant’s state of preparation when the opportunity arises.
That distinction matters because the proposition is not simply about paying to move ahead of somebody else. It is about paying for a service that enables the tenant to complete work in advance and make relevant information available when it is needed. Whether that preparation translates into earlier consideration will depend on how agents use the information, how applications are managed and what other factors influence the landlord’s decision.
Nevertheless, the commercial question cannot be ignored. If a paid service gives one applicant a practical advantage over another, the industry needs to be clear about exactly what that advantage is. Is the customer paying for identity checks and referencing, for convenience, for access to additional services, or for priority in the application process? These are different propositions, and tenants should understand the distinction before spending their money.
There is also a wider question of fairness. The private rented sector serves people with very different financial circumstances, and those facing the greatest pressure to find a home may be least able to afford additional services. If the market begins to reward applicants primarily for their ability to pay for faster processing, it risks introducing another barrier into an already competitive process.
The more sustainable model is one in which the service provides demonstrable value through preparation, transparency and reduced administration, while landlords and agents continue to make appropriate decisions based on suitability rather than the mere purchase of an advantage.
The opportunity to build a better tenant experience
The potential of tlyfe extends beyond the initial application. According to its proposition, the platform also brings together elements of the tenancy experience after a tenant has moved in, including the ability to report repairs using photographs or video, keep tenancy documentation in one place and record rental payments where the tenant chooses to do so. Deposit-related services involving the Tenancy Deposit Scheme are also part of the wider offering.
This points towards a broader opportunity for residential proptech. Historically, many digital property services have concentrated on one part of the journey: finding a property, referencing a tenant, signing a tenancy agreement or managing a repair. The result has often been a collection of separate systems, each solving a specific problem but leaving the customer to navigate the gaps between them.
A more joined-up approach could give tenants a consistent digital record of their rental journey, from preparing an application to managing the practical responsibilities of a tenancy. For agents and landlords, better-organised information could reduce duplication and make routine processes easier to manage.
However, the long-term value of this approach will depend on execution. Tenants need confidence that their personal information is handled securely, that they understand who can access their documents and that they can control when information is shared. Agents need systems that fit their existing workflows rather than create another administrative burden. Landlords need reliable information that supports sensible decisions.
Technology can provide the infrastructure, but adoption depends on trust, usability and evidence that the system makes life easier.
Proptech’s next challenge is removing friction, not adding features
The rental market has no shortage of digital platforms promising to improve the customer journey. The more important question is whether those platforms solve problems that genuinely matter to the people using them.
For tenants, one of the most stressful aspects of renting is the uncertainty. They may spend weeks searching for a suitable property, only to discover that someone else has moved more quickly through the application process. The experience can be frustrating because the tenant has little visibility into what is happening behind the scenes or what they could have done differently.
For agents, the challenge is equally real. High enquiry volumes can create significant administrative pressure, while delays in obtaining information can make an otherwise promising application difficult to progress. A system that helps applicants prepare before they need to apply could address a practical problem on both sides of the market.
This is where the next stage of proptech development may be less about adding another portal or another app and more about improving the connections between existing processes. Better preparation, reusable verified information and clearer communication could make the rental journey more efficient without requiring every participant to change the way they search for a home.
The strongest solutions will be those that deliver measurable benefits. If pre-verified applicants can be progressed more efficiently, agents should be able to assess whether administration time falls and whether transactions move more smoothly. If tenants are paying for a service, they should be able to see what they receive in return. And if a platform claims to improve fairness or speed, those claims should be tested against real outcomes rather than marketing promises.
The future of renting may begin before the property search
The conventional rental journey starts with a tenant looking for a property. Only after finding somewhere suitable do they begin assembling the documents and information required to secure it.
Rent Ready challenges that sequence. It suggests that the preparation stage can take place before the search has finished, allowing a tenant to move more quickly when the right property appears.
That is a relatively simple idea, but it reflects a broader shift in how property technology can create value. Instead of digitising an existing process exactly as it stands, a platform can question why the process happens in that order in the first place.
The same thinking can be applied across the property sector. Buyers can prepare their finances before making an offer, sellers can assemble information before marketing a home, and landlords can organise compliance and tenancy records before a property is let. In each case, preparation can reduce friction when the decisive moment arrives.
There is no guarantee that a Rent Ready applicant will secure a property, just as priority boarding cannot guarantee a better flight. Affordability, suitability, availability and the landlord’s decision will continue to matter. But being prepared can remove unnecessary delay at precisely the moment when time is in short supply.
The real question for the rental industry is therefore not simply whether tenants should be able to pay to jump the queue. It is whether technology can make the queue itself less frustrating, more transparent and more efficient.
If it can, the winners will not necessarily be the platforms with the most features. They will be the ones that understand where the process breaks down, remove the obstacles that do not need to be there and deliver a better experience for tenants, agents and landlords alike.
And perhaps that is the most useful lesson for proptech: sometimes innovation is not about creating an entirely new journey. It is about recognising that the old one takes too long, and finding a better way to move everyone forward.’
