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Double Dutch: how a housing association went completely digital

A Dutch housing association was struggling with the slow process of ‘digitising’ itself. Then staff had the idea of creating a start-up sister association, run entirely through an app. Rhiannon Curry reports. Pictures by Getty

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A Dutch housing association was struggling with the slow process of ‘digitising’ itself. Then staff had the idea of creating a start-up sister association, run entirely through an app #UKhousing

Learn about Qlinker, the Dutch landlord that effectively aims to put a housing association on tenants’ smartphones #UKhousing

Six days on average to approve a letting, reams of paperwork, numerous person hours – the admin involved in running a housing association is significant. But what if there was an alternative?

This was the question staff at Dutch housing association Mitros found themselves puzzling over in 2017 as they gathered to think about how to move forward as an organisation.

Digitisation was going to be key if Mitros wanted to automate many of its existing processes, it realised. But transforming an existing organisation was not going to be easy. Working within what it describes as the “limited manoeuvrability” of existing suppliers, systems and infrastructure stifled its ability to really innovate.

So Mitros decided to do something radical, setting up a start-up housing association to function as its ‘digital twin’. And so, Qlinker was born.

“We thought, how can we make this big leap forward instead of taking small steps forward, however important these small steps are,” explains Danielle Koeken, one of Qlinker’s founders.

“We decided you can only make a big leap forward if you break free from your legacy: the ‘old way’ of working and all the processes and systems you have.

“You’re always moving forward from that point if you’re developing within the existing organisation. But if you start over, make a fresh start, then you can start with the customer in mind and build exactly as it should be.”

The ambition for Qlinker, which means ‘brick’ in Dutch, was to effectively put a housing association on tenants’ smartphones.


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By automating many of the processes involved in letting and managing a property, the team hoped to be able to build a more tenant-centric organisation, and give themselves more time to focus on things such as investment and customer relations.

Daan Peters, director of business development at Mitros, and Qlinker’s other founder, says the company is “the first purely digital corporation” in the Netherlands. He and the rest of the team were convinced that the housing system could be improved and that this was the way to do it.

Housing associations in the Netherlands are required to list properties available for social rent on a regional database, so Qlinker’s homes are there along with hundreds of others. At the moment, it has only 134 properties on its books in the Utrecht area – all new builds – after launching with its first two properties last year. This is social housing, let at a reduced rent.

If a prospective tenant decides they like one of Qlinker’s homes, their application is assessed by eligibility, income and time spent on the housing waiting list.

So far, so normal. But once a tenant is chosen for the home, Qlinker’s systems kick in. The company functions only through an app: there is no phone number, email or address for tenants to access.

“We tell people up front that you have to go through an app and we’re doing things differently,” Ms Koeken explains.

If an applicant is accepted for the lease, Qlinker sends them a text message, inviting them to download its app and provide their personal information, including tax details, income and status.

They are then issued with a “renters’ passport” containing their details, which Qlinker’s systems can then access to check whether the applicant is able to fulfil the requirements of the lease, and verify their ID. If all is well, the tenant gets a notification telling them that the home is theirs and that they can choose to accept or decline the lease. If they accept, they are sent a digital contract to sign within the app, and they can make their first payment.

“This whole process can be done in 10 minutes. It used to be six days,” Mr Peters says.

The fastest a letting has ever been completed was five minutes. The tenant happened to be looking at her phone when the initial notification from Qlinker came in and she filled in her details immediately, signed the contract, paid, and the house was hers.

“She was over the moon, as you can imagine,” Ms Koeken says, although she admits that she was not entirely sure the tenant had realised she had completed the entire process so easily.

“She kept asking when she needed to sign the tenancy agreement, so we might need to think about that,” she says, laughing.

Qlinker has also done away with some of the standard and, in its view, unnecessary steps in renting.

“We also learned to look for the boundaries of the law,” Mr Peters says, before Ms Koeken quickly clarifies that they are not doing anything illegal.

Instead, they have learned to question long-accepted ways of working. For example, they no longer run the myriad checks on tenants’ rental history, instead choosing to trust that the information tenants themselves provide is correct.

Start-up housing association Qlinker has 134 properties in the Dutch city of Utrecht

Tenants are also able to ask questions about the renting process through the app, and Qlinker has a chatbot, named Q after James Bond’s technical whizz. At the moment Q answers “about half” of the queries posed, the team says. The rest are referred to a live chat with an agent.

Tenants also receive videos explaining features of their new homes, which they can watch again if they have a problem. This is preferable to a quick tour by an agent when the keys are handed over, the team says.

If this sounds impersonal, Qlinker is keen to point out it is not. The landlord provides each tenant with a goodie bag when they move in, with treats such as a voucher for the local DIY store, and housewarming gifts like a bar of chocolate and a card. There is also a ‘happy customer manager’ called Kim, who rides around on a red bike dealing with any issues.

So far, tenants are thrilled, with around 90% rating the system either good or excellent.

And the team has been surprised with the level of take-up from all ages. Ms Koeken says she used a group of older relatives to test the app early on, and was chastised for assuming they did not have the technological know-how to cope with it. “People of all ages can use it, and if they can’t, then that’s on us,” she says.

However, the first year has not been without its challenges.

The team discovered that once tenants have moved into their properties, there are many more variables. One sticking point has been the repairs process.

Although tenants can log repairs requests through the app, the actual work is carried out by the building owners, not by a team run by Qlinker itself. Although tenants have generally been pleased with the way repairs are logged, actually getting the work completed has often been slow.

“If processes are not in your hands, that’s the biggest challenge,” Ms Koeken says.

The company is yet to design its own repairs process, and will not confirm whether it will eventually be brought in house, but Ms Koeken admits that this would give them more control over the process.

Overall, the team is pleased with Qlinker’s progress so far. But there
are no plans to build it into a multi-thousand home association. Working from an attic in Mitros’ headquarters (“It used to be where we stored the Christmas trees!” Ms Koeken quips), Qlinker is keen to stay true to its small beginnings but help others to access its innovations.

“We’re doing our next housing project next year, but we’re not trying to get more and more people in, we want a playground where we can develop things and all the inventions will be put into Mitros,” Ms Koeken says. “Qlinker is also an innovation for everyone else to use, so we hope to get some partnerships and expand from there. But it’s not really our ambition to make a big company out of it.”

In the future Qlinker could be used in different markets, even for commercial property companies that also want to improve their lettings processes.

At the moment, the team’s biggest ongoing challenge is not being dragged back to previous ways of working, they admit. But taking that first leap of faith was the most difficult part.

To others considering changing the way they work, Mr Peters says: “The most important thing is to start. Don’t wait for the best solution, just get going.”

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