Cozy, which launched on June 6, 2013, is a new company hoping to make day-to-day issues facing landlords and tenants easier. The company is financed by Google Ventures, among others, meaning odds are in favor of this company succeeding.
Owning rental property is a great long-term investment; likewise, renting is a convenient solution for many who can’t afford or don’t want to buy property. However, as everyone knows, being a landlord or a tenant can come with some headaches.
To start with, for a tenant, finding a place to rent requires filling out several applications, which results in tenants having to provide personal and confidential information to complete strangers. For a landlord, finding a reliable tenant involves chasing down references, expensive background checks, and oftentimes guess work. Cozy aims to solve these issues. Renters create a profile in Cozy containing the personal information required on rental applications (e.g., references and job information). This information is verified through LinkedIn. Landlords can quickly and easily access this data. Once a tenant finds a place (or stops looking), he or she is able to remove access to his or her personal information. This provides greater security than filling out an old-school paper form or online application.
Likewise, landlords are able to create a profile and list of available properties, creating a central repository for tenants looking for rentals.
An important back-end feature offered by Cozy is online payments. No more the “check got lost in the mail” excuses. Using ACH direct debit payments, a renter is able to send money directly to a landlord’s account.
The fee to use this service is borne by the landlords, who are required to pay $9/month for every unit listed. But, if this service works as advertised, we suspect landlords will be glad to pay $9/month for the convenience provided. In order to become a viable option going forward, lots of landlords and tenants will need to sign up for the service. We wish Cozy luck and hope for its success.
At Gomez & Golomb LLC, we’ve been drafting leases, negotiating landlord-tenant disputes, and filing evictions for twenty years. Please call us for a free initial consultation to discuss your commercial or residential landlord-tenant issues.