UK start-up InsureStreet helps solve cash deposit crisis
UK start-up, InsureStreet, is set to solve a major issue in the rental market and potentially pump nearly £4 billion of ‘dead money’ back into the UK economy by replacing cash deposits with trust-based deposit replacement insurance.
The app, whose backers include serial entrepreneur Vin Murria and insurance provider HISCOX, presents ‘generation rent’ with an easy and affordable alternative to the often crippling upfront cash deposits required by landlords.
InsureStreet comes at a time when rent rises across the UK have far outpaced wage increases over the past five years – and at a time when more misery is predicted for renters with further steep rises expected over the next few years, particularly in London. However, with a shortage of affordable housing, more and more people have no choice but to rent.
How InsureStreet works:
• Typically, renters are charged a minimum of six weeks’ rent as a security deposit, plus agency fees and a month’s rent in advance.
• InsureStreet provides renters with a digital RentPassport™ that validates their profile and then provides renters with an instant insurance quote to cover their deposit.
• Instead of paying a traditional cash deposit, renters make a one-off payment for an insurance policy that covers them for the duration of the rental contract. In most cases, that one-off insurance payment is less than a tenth of what you would pay for a traditional cash deposit.
• The platform rewards good behaviour through lower policy premiums at renewal.
