I am a proponent of local startups and despite being wary of Zero Deposit Scheme, I gave Speedhome a go with several listings and tenancies. My tenants were mixed of local and foreigners. My observations from A to Z below.

- Matching between landlord and tenant pretty straightforward. Alicia will try to engage in conversation but landlords need to take effort to ask questions. Do not be surprise, the profiles do not match with the viewers. Speedhome needs to improve this aspect and get real ID for any registrants to avoid waste of time.
- Speedhome has homerunner service but frankly do not waste time as the service probably has zero knowledge of the property. How they will pitch the property to prospect tenants unless the tenants are very familiar and just need to double check the actual unit is same as photos
- This is one of most important step as landlord cannot and shouldn't rely on Speedhome for filter/vetting. Yes they have insurance but if tenants thrash the house, it will take landlord a lot of efforts to refurbish the house. Ask the questions and if not comfortable with profile, just reject them.
- Speedhome has homerunners for check in/ out. I am neutral on this. this is definitely convenient for certain landlords but effectiveness is topic of another day.
- One of the major advantages of Speedhome platform,they will follow up with tenants on rental overdue, collection and pretty prompt with transfer rental to your bank account. All notifications are done promptly.
- Never dealt with tenant eviction so not sure how effective is the process by Speedhome
- One of the tenants gave early 2 months notice to move out despite just 4th month of the one year tenancy. As per term by Speedhome, tenant only need to pay penalty 25% for stay exceed 6months. The fee/insurance premium that landlord already paid to Speedhome is not reimbursable. Unlike conventional method where landlords can forfeit deposit to offset the cost. Apparently, it is very common practise for tenants under Speedhome sign under a year tenancy but leave after few months. It is way cheaper for them to secure rental rate for one year and pay the low penalty (if they pay) for short term stay. it will be interesting for Speedhome to share how many of their tenants have an early termination.
- The worst experience is during checkout where none of the tenants perform obligatory duty such as professional cleaning, aircon service, repairs, bulb replacement despite being reminded in so many emails, chatroom and whatapps. Landlords will need to spend chunk of time in between the tenancy to get this fixed up. Unlike my other conventional tenancies, Usually new tenants can be sourced two months prior tenancy ended as usually units in good condition as the tenants would like their deposit back. New tenants can move in almost back to back when existing tenants leave. that cannot be say with Zero Deposit under speedhome where vacate period so far ranging from 1-2 months.
- Claiming is quite hassle free and Speedhome is quite helpful. Thumb up to the team for being prompt. they can even help to lodge police report with authorization letter from landlords. They are also practical with furnishing claim where sample quotes are sufficient. However, do not expect to get full reimbursable.
- Some of the expenses are not claimable such as aircon service??! Two of my ex-tenants did not performing it and despite Speedhome promise to blacklist them in CTOS, what's good for landlords where they have to pay from own pocket?

In my opinion, Zero Deposit Scheme can be still appealing to certain segments aka properties in low rental demand. For in demand properties, I definitely will list it at least 20-30% premium vs conventional approach to take into account risks and tenant management.

Speedhome has started with deposit scheme but I think damage has done. Speedhome has built their reputation with their Zero Deposit Scheme, and it will be interesting to see how many tenants willing to pay deposit in Speedhome. Also options in the platform way way lower than Iproperty so why these tenants bother to explore Speedhome.

The platform is clearly pro-tenants and incentivise them to explore Speedhome. I believe Speedhome's argument is they are enlarging pool of tenants where otherwise they do no have cash to rent or cash can be deployed elsewhere. Will not dispute the objective but so far quality of these tenants are very questionable. In my opinion, at the moment whatever Speedhome is doing is not working and not sufficient.

I have unwound all my tenancies with Speedhome under Zero Deposit Scheme. Thankfully I did not have horrible experience but neither any of them are pleasant. Statistically, it is not exactly great vs conventional method. But I can imagine it is very easy to be entangled in the nightmare particularly tenants do not have incentive to take care the house (aka no deposit). Yes, Speedhome may blacklist them in CTOS but honestly, how many of them especially foreigners they do bother?

Wish Speedhome all the best hopefully they can come out better and stronger to serve a vibrant and fair rental market.

This post has been edited by gks: Apr 17 2023, 11:47 AM

WheiMeng, wish you all the best in your journey! I have given my support but I will need to see more evidence your tools can work.

At the moment, I will stick to tested and proven approach with specialist agents. Some of the businesses such as real estate... building long term relationship with agents is more important than building relationships with a bot.


Cheers!