nurtur.group completes its first investment through the accelerator programme - LettsPay
Since launching the Accelerator Programme at the end of January, nurtur.group has received a vast number of proptech applicants looking to launch their products and services with the group. After much deliberation, the team heading the Accelerator Programme have selected and closed their first deal with LettsPay, an automated client accounting engine that makes reconciling tenant rental payments and remaining compliant far easier.
Garrett Foxon, Founder of LettsPay, says: “We are very excited to have been selected as the first applicant to work with the Accelerator team. The partnership offers us access to a large network of property professionals, as well as the opportunity to increase our brand awareness with the sector. Working with the team of industry experts within nurtur.group will help us to propel our business forward, while providing the network with a proptech product that will assist agents in the lettings sector.”
Since April 2019, any lettings or management business that handles clients’ money must be part of the Client Money Protection (CMP) Scheme in order to trade. The state-of-the-art rental collection platform will help landlords and letting agents save valuable time while ensuring they remain compliant with CMP and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations.
Paul Offley, Compliance Officer at nurtur.group, says: “I’m genuinely excited by our investment in LettsPay and the service it can provide to our Members who offer lettings in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. This will really offer then an alternative banking solution, yet at the same time keep them fully in control of their client’s money. All too often I come across cases where banks are writing to an increasing number of Members with a warning that they wish to close undesignated client accounts, and for an agent with over three hundred landlords the logistics of having to operate 300 individual designated accounts, or change banks, is quite daunting. Working with LettsPay takes away the issue completely. Through the portal each firm would have an automated designated client account for each of their landlords with the added bonus of no bank charges, no hassle from the bank and a fully automated system, which is backed by CMP and has a full reconciliation and audit trail, all under the name of the agent.”
Foxon adds that the platform uses the latest finance technology to create the separate accounts for landlords, with their own sort code and account number. “The tenant is notified automatically by the platform to pay their account. When payment is received, LettsPay auto allocates the funds, which means all the letting agent would need to do is create and approve the payout to the landlord. The system will communicate to the tenant that the payment has been received and it will produce an automatic statement for the landlord. The automation of the process will save agents time and will make it far easier to manage a larger portfolio of clients. The platform is also able to manage payments to contractors, deposit accounts and HMRC for NRL tax,” he says.
Investment from nurtur.group into proptech products like LettsPay will be hugely beneficial to both the innovators creating the products as well as the network of agents within the group.
Iain McKenzie, CEO of The Guild of Property Professionals, which is part of nurtur.group, says: “Innovative technology such as the LettsPay will ensure the group is at the forefront of development, driving progression within the sector and providing agents with a wider array of proptech products that will save money, make money, and help them remain compliant. As a group we are continuously thinking ahead to make sure that we are delivering tech to support our Members and help them overcome challenges. nurtur.group will continue to work with more applicants through the Accelerator Programme to propel innovations through investment and develop new and exciting technology for property businesses within the network.”