6 April, London: Optus Homes Ltd has announced that PayPoint Group has taken a stake in the company through a £750K investment. The investment enables Optus Homes to further enhance its position as the leading disruptive innovator for tenant self-serve and channel shift in the UK social housing sector. Unlike traditional tenant web portals, the Optus Homes native app takes advantage of all smartphone features including fingerprint and facial login, push notifications and geo location for reporting ASB.
The social housing sector is experiencing a tide of change with growing expectations on how the voice-of-tenant is heeded. Convenience and efficiency are driving factors when offering methods to report repairs, book visits, and access documentation, but also in offering modern banking methods for rent payment and arrears management. The PayPoint investment builds on a pre-existing partnership which integrated PayPoint as the native solution allowing tenants to pay their rent via app, through Open Banking or over the counter in 28,000 retailer locations across the UK.
The app is system agnostic and integrates with all established Housing Management Systems, CRM’s and scheduling systems in the social housing sector. The simple SaaS commercial model charges per tenant per month, with no development fees. The app is available for landlords of all sizes with full maintenance and support included.
Gerry Kelly, CEO of Optus Homes, added: “PayPoint was a natural partner for us as we seek to offer digital payments solutions, convenience and peace-of-mind for tenants, as well as increased efficiency and reduced costs for housing providers. This investment will help us deliver these benefits to an even broader range of social housing clients and tenants, with simple, streamlined and secure rent payments and an enhanced customer experience”
Danny Vant, Client Services Director of PayPoint, said: “We’re delighted to be investing into the Optus Homes business, building on the partnership that we announced recently to integrate our MultiPay digital payments solutions into their app. This investment will enable PayPoint to build on the great progress made in the housing sector over the past few years, increasing financial inclusion and convenience for social housing tenants and removing complexity for social housing landlords.”