Property
Rental reinvention
Property development in cities was a hot topic at Monocle’s Quality of Life conference in Berlin as speakers challenged the conventional wisdom on everything from the rental market to how we build for an ageing society. During a panel titled “Property’s next move”, Ryan Prince, the founder of Uncle, argued for a more flexibility in the rental market and taking the “‘lord’ out of ‘landlord’". Prince explained that Uncle, which provides a property management service, has found success by regarding its tenants first and foremost as customers and focusing on service. It’s a seemingly simple idea but in cities where many landlords are only concerned about the bottom line, it’s a radical approach.