
Ask HN: Would you pay to acquire tenants? - amerf1
For tenants who want to move to a different neighbourhood, but are tied up in long-term leases and high cancellation fees (e.g. two months rent)<p>If you were a landlord would you pay these cancellation fees to acquire tenants?<p>I am trying to understand if there is a market for such a service, because if there is then a tenant can &quot;subscribe&quot; to this service and have the freedom to move around without being tied up to long-term leases. The cost of this service is a slightly higher &quot;subscription fee&quot; instead of paying rent
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enonevets
Can't speak for others and this is not indicative of the idea not having merit
but...

For me, I wouldn't. I've owned multiple properties and have rented out those
properties without much issue. If anything at a certain scale having a
reliable yet affordable option for property management makes more sense. I
just never got to that point to feel about the existing property management
companies in my area.

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byoung2
In my area (Los Angeles, CA) landlords have the opposite problem. Tenants are
tied up in long term leases and the landlords want them out so they can raise
the rent for the next tenant. There are cases where the landlords ate not only
waiving any cancellation fees, they are paying to relocate tenants to other
areas.

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amerf1
wow, never heard of that before. It is interesting though. I think long-term
leases are going to disappear things are moving too fast and changing very
quickly for anyone to commit to long term leases

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byoung2
Plus these penalties for breaking a lease were supposed to compensate the
landlord for lost rent while looking for a new tenant. If a new tenant is
always around the corner, how can they justify the penalties?

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amerf1
True makes 100% sense

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gtsteve
So your service would effectively be the tenant? Certainly an interesting
concept although the landlord would have to agree to sublet.

The lease agreement for my apartment for example says I can sublet but I can't
allow my tenants to sublet so I don't think I could use it. I don't know if
that's common outside of London.

What's in it for the tenant though? If an individual needs that level of
flexibility but want something beyond a hotel then there are options such as
serviced apartments in most major cities.

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amerf1
Thank you for your comment!

Sorry I was not very clear in the concept, I tried to make it clearer below

A subscription-based rental service company, we break your lease contract and
you pay us. We find you apartments and rent it for you. You pay us not the
landlord.

That is a great question on whether the landlord will agree to sublet, but for
me as a service company my argument is I have a customer with a good credit
rating who is ready to move in to your apartment. I know many landlords who
are desperate to get tenants.

The problem is some tenants are ready to move in, but they already have a
long-term contract with another apartment. I am here to break it for you, but
you pay me

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gtsteve
I've always lived in areas with very high demand for rental property and I
always had the opposite problem in that I couldn't stay in the property long
enough - landlords often wouldn't agree to 2 year leases for example.

Possibly your proposed service might be useful to users in cities without this
demand but it might follow that you are looking at lower income landlords.
Perhaps offering a guaranteed rental income as part of the business model
would work.

As a former renter I don't think I'd want to sign up to this because (in the
UK at least), tenants really don't have a good deal as it is. Why would I want
to replace a lease with a subscription?

That is unless you can effectively offer the tenants better rights than you
normally get... but then why would a landlord want to give up a system
currently rigged in their favour?

This isn't a business model I've heard of and I find stuff like this quite
interesting to think about. Let me know your thoughts.

