SevenCapital is launching a rental platform to operate residential properties from small Airbnb-style lettings to large build-to-rent assets.
The Midlands developer has backed short-term lets start-up AirDwelling, founded by Charlie London, with a £10m investment and appointed London chief executive of the new platform, SevenLiving.
The property management platform aims to grow its 450-property portfolio to at least 8,000 homes under management from third-party clients by 2024.
Combined with SevenCapital’s plan to deliver and hold 5,000 BTR homes, this could see a total portfolio of 13,000 homes.
London told EG: “SevenCapital saw the opportunity in taking residential property and offering it as a lifestyle-led service. That isn’t necessarily just short-term rentals for one night, but we felt the consumer had moved on and wanted a different experience – a different level of service.”
That service includes furnishing, photographing and letting homes via a network of 52 agencies including Zoopla and Rightmove, as well as managing cleaning, laundry, toiletries and 24-hour customer communications, through to payment, for stays of between one night and one year.
SevenLiving relies on its tech platform and app, and aims to be the only UK operator to offer 100% virtual on-boarding.
The platform is operating SevenCapital’s first full BTR scheme of 130 flats at One Thames Valley in Bracknell (pictured). SevenCapital assets make up around a third of the portfolio, with homes owned by SevenCapital or its buyers at New Eton House and The Metalworks in Slough and Broadway Residences and St George’s Urban Village in Birmingham.
“While we cover BTR, we have the capability to offer that service to any landlord or client, be it SevenCapital or another,” said London. “We have shepherd huts in the Cotswolds, holiday homes in Dartmouth and Salcombe, and apartments in Ashford, Birmingham and Nottingham.”
He added: “We have a really diverse portfolio, which is what makes what we do so scaleable.”
During the pandemic the business has been boosted by corporate customers seeking extended stays in flats, as the hotels industry shut down.
“We are dealing with short-term corporate clients, such as insurance companies, large banks and large multinationals, where we effectively take the hospitality clientele and place them in our homes,” said London.
The business will see SevenCapital launched from residential developer into a hospitality brand for landlords to rival the likes of Houst and Sonder. “It doesn’t look like your conventional property lettings team, it’s a hospitality team,” added London.
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