Rental portal eyes payments opportunity
Rental property website operator Rent.com.au has ambitions to move into the payments market. The company has partnered with payment service provider Novatti to develop a rental payment service.Novatti will acquire a 2.5 per cent shareholding in Rent.com.au's subsidiary RentPay Technology Pty Ltd for A$250,000, with an option to increase the stake to 10 per cent.Rent.com.au chief executive Greg Bader said in a statement: "Rental payment is a $60 billion a year industry that is ripe for transformation."Novatti will integrate its payment technology into the RentPay system to provide an automated rental payments platform for tenants and agents. It will include administrative support for agents, such as automated missed-payments communications.Rent.com.au's core offering a Renter Resume, a portal that holds 700 renter resumes. It allows renters to apply for rental property without having to re-enter their details each time.It also offers an ID verification service, RentCheck, finance for bonds and moving costs, RentBond, and a utility connection service, RentConnect.