As the co-founder of two successful property companies, The Depositary and base property specialists ltd, Kristjan has over 21 years of experience in the London real estate market and is passionate about transforming the way agents, landlords, and tenants manage and interact on all tenancy security deposit matters, using cutting-edge technology and best practices. Recognised  for his excellence and innovation in property management, Kristjan is also a member of the Zoopla Lettings Advisory Board and The Lettings Industry Council, where he shares his valuable insights and expertise with other industry leaders and stakeholders…

Q. I recently read a LinkedIn post of yours, which was an interesting and informed response to Rachel Mortimer’s piece in The Times and Sunday Times Money Section, titled ‘The end of no-fault evictions: what it means for landlords and tenants’. You found her predictions in relation to the potential consequences of Section 21’s demise to be unhelpful and misleading, having added no context of statistics and no helpful advice for either party.

According to Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action, however, an increase in instructions for Section 21 notices has already been observed and they are predicting a further surge in the coming months. What would you say to the landlords who are taking action now due to concerns over the ability to manage problematic tenancies effectively in the near future? And what is your response to Rachel’s overriding suggestion that the change might cause as many problems as it solves?

A. There is a lot of concern around the removal of Section 21, some legitimate and some unfounded, but all driven by the scary and factually light reporting of the changes being proposed. Since the pledge to abolish S21 back in 2019, through the RRB and its latest iteration offered by Labour, many entities (myself included) have tried very hard to ensure the government understands that this will lead to a more risk averse marketplace.

What I mean by that is, if tenants are effectively given indefinite right to stay, and repossession technically harder and taking longer (as is reasonable to expect), then the pragmatic thing for landlords and their agents to do now, whilst S21 still exists, is use it to ensure that you are free to either exit the market entirely (sell or reoccupy) or ensure that you have the most viable tenant – ideally with a good rent and legal expense warranty in place too.

As such, an escalation in the serving of S21 in the lead up to its abolition is to be expected. What we must remember is that, whilst legislative changes will cause an impact, the vast majority of the market is driven by external factors such as births, deaths, relationships and separations, change of income and employment. Approximately 85% of tenancies, driven by these personal factors, are ended by the tenant. That will never change. My estimates place the impact to primarily affect around 3-5% of the market; however, this can also be mitigated or eradicated through appropriate actions such as adopting rent and legal warranties on all tenancies as standard, instantly mitigating the greatest risk and concern for landlords – a lengthy legal process proving both costly (in professional fees) and in loss of rent.

Q. Having been described as ‘the Viking of Proptech’, as well as having been an early adopter of new solutions for many years now, you also have some very strong views on the bad in Proptech! When Mashroom sold its lettings book to Letting a Property, for example, your response was: “Got to love a company that criticises our profession, tries to ‘disrupt’ it by undercutting the market, fails – and then decides to become a supplier to the marketplace it spent the last few years attacking.”

So, where do you think Proptech goes wrong and why?

A. Whilst there are some exceptions to the rule, typically there’s a red flag the moment a product calls itself a ‘disruptor’. Time and time again we have seen products/companies come to market with this mantra – all too often created by people who have no real understanding of transacting property (sales or lettings) and what that actually entails from a technical, legislative and ‘real world’ context. The back story reads like a template. I was buying/selling/landlording/renting and the process was broken and outdated, so we decided to create and launch ‘XXX’ to disrupt the marketplace and give sellers/buyers/landlords/tenants what they really want or need. A noble and valid objective, sure.

However, without then going and understanding the sector and industry from a technical standpoint, how can you know what can be disrupted? There’s another side to this: where the only disruption really happening is the price point. Again, without understanding the sector, operational costs and profit margins, this isn’t disruption and has been seen hundreds of times over now and is almost certainly commercially unviable.

Like for so many others, what does leave a bad taste in my mouth is to see these ‘disruptors’ launch, almost always with an anti-agent rhetoric about how bad, slow, old-fashioned and expensive we are…. only for them to fail and then pivot to a model where they then end up selling their product to ‘us bunch of jokers’. Thankfully you are seeing more and more products being developed by those with detailed technical knowledge and frontline experience, and companies are learning to consult more often and earlier in their journey, leading to better products and offerings.

Q. What are some of the biggest Proptech trends you are noticing now?

A. AI will dominate all things tech for the foreseeable future. It won’t be a smooth journey and there will be much to learn. However, in my opinion, we are at the start of a technological revolution – a seismic shift in how technology facilitates everything in our lives, driving changes to how we live our lives, complete our work and so much more. Just like with the Industrial Revolution, whilst it will take a few years (3-5) to gain momentum, once it achieves this the changes will be more dramatic and far-reaching than many will have ever thought possible. Our ‘horse-drawn ploughs’ and manual approach to tasks will suddenly become obsolete. It is vital companies dedicate time and resources to understand the changes coming and learn how to navigate and leverage those, or be left behind, way behind.

Q. I was interested to learn that you moved into the property sector following a brief stint as a professional actor. Was there a connection between that transition? And would you say that your creative background has contributed to the success of your companies?

A. I can’t think there was a connection that inspired the leap of career choice, but learning how to act, orate and effectively communicate through 3 years of technical stage acting training stood me in good stead to leverage this, or any appropriate career. I would heartily recommend acting classes or engaging with local AmDram activities for helping to develop better communication and presentation skills.

I’ve always been creative – as well as acting I loved art and design growing up. My father was a brilliant art director in the world of advertising as well as a successful artist in his own right (if you like watercolours, check out his array of Graham Byfield sketchbooks for sale).

I believe creativity is an essential tool and skillset that all kids should learn at school, as it builds a creative mindset when it comes to problem solving, new product/service/business ideas, and so much more. It is why I feel very strongly that the reduction of investment and importance in the arts in schools in the UK could be one of the worst things we’ve ever done in terms of future ability to compete on a global business stage.

Q. What are some of the best start-ups to watch out for?

A. At my agency, base, we have been working closely with Bridge AI to help develop and refine their AI-driven enquiry and viewing automation tool. It has come a long way in the short time we have worked with them, and we are really excited to see it evolve. Vitally, they are listening very carefully to our feedback and are acting on it swiftly, so we are seeing the product evolve and improve on a near weekly basis.

It was great to see Street officially launch their lettings offering, finally emerging from Beta. Street fascinates me as they are not just building fab tech, but the culture driven by the leadership of Heather and Tom is inspiring to watch.

Prospector Pro is another piece of incredible kit brought to the market by John Paul, the founder of the Castledene Group and one of the most respected voices in our industry. Having a deep understanding of the sales element of our roles, how gamification and competition drives results, and then leveraging all that through automation and AI is quite something to behold!

I’ve kept this very industry specific, as there’s a host of AI tools out there agents should be exploring and adopting, but that’s too much to cover here. I’m actually working on a series of articles/content/insights around different AI tools agents can adopt and am working closely with Owen Rogers of Houseful as part of our work with the Zoopla Lettings Advisory Board to deliver help, insights and actionable data beneficial to our industry and sector.

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