HomeHak founder Pat Drinan. Image: Brian Lougheed
Using tech such as Stripe Identity, HomeHak is creating a database of tenants for landlords to choose from.
Irish start-up HomeHak is aiming to revolutionise the renting market in Ireland with technology that helps landlords and letting agents match with tenants.
Founded late last year by Cork native Pat Drinan, HomeHak is a proptech start-up trying to flip renting conventions. Its website serves as a database of prospective tenant profiles that can be browsed by homeowners and agents to find suitable candidates.
Tenants who sign up to the platform must upload a CV with their details, giving landlords an overview of their eligibility for the property being let. A first in the Irish property market, tenants’ identities are verified using Stripe Identity and reference collection is streamlined.
Landlords and homeowners can advertise their properties on the HomeHak website for free, while tenants looking for properties must pay a “small membership fee” to communicate on the platform after a free trial period.
Now on a mission to make HomeHak Europe’s largest database of tenants, Drinan said his start-up offers “a better alternative” to tenants and landlords in a highly competitive renting market.
“In the current property-based website model, hundreds of hopeful home-seekers apply for a single property, only for the majority to be left disappointed.”
HomeHak aims to offer tenants the chance to stand out from the crowd. “A model such as HomeHak where organised applicants get selected is much more efficient and personal,” Drinan said.
Drinan, who has experienced the renting market as both a tenant and landlord, is a finance expert who had the idea to establish HomeHak after identifying “unnecessary red-tape cost for all stakeholders” in the Irish renting market’s current model.
“We are a standalone independent business. Tenants own the data on their HomeHak tenant CV and the platform gives them control over how they use it. This is why we’re different – we’re giving organised tenants a platform to empower themselves.”
HomeHak is also aimed at homeowners who want to rent spare rooms in the medium to long term, but are not comfortable with advertising their home publicly on existing property websites.
Instead, they can discreetly enter their property address on HomeHak and assess tenant CVs before contacting applicants.
HomeHak has partnered with a number of letting agencies already.
“Our landlord clients expect us to carefully select the best tenants for their properties. We work hard to provide a professional and personal service and we’re always sensitive to the needs of home-seekers who apply for homes,” said Roisin Murray of Sherry Fitzgerald Lettings in Cork.
“We were immediately attracted to the efficiencies presented by HomeHak. It quickly identifies the right applicants for a particular property. When we update the status of a property, all the applicants are automatically notified, which saves lots of calls and emails to our office.”
Drinan and the HomeHak team have several pew products on the pipeline, including one aimed at employers and universities who want to help staff or students find suitable homes to rent.
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