More 12-cheque rental options open up for Dubai residents

Dubai: More rental options are opening up for tenants in Dubai that allow payments through 12 monthly payments.

The property services platform Keyper has aligned with some leading real estate firms in the city to provide such an option for residents. The properties offered through this arrangement all come pre-approved for 'rent now pay later schemes' through 12 month payments.

"With rent now pay later, tenants have the ability to pay in 12 payments by card, while landlords get paid upfront in 1, 2, or 4 payments," said Walid Shihabi – co-founder of Keyper.

"Most residential stock in Dubai is owned by individual landlords and small family offices. Given that their portfolios are small, they can’t spread the risk and prefer to be paid upfront in 1 or 2 checks. We allow them to offer their tenants the flexibility to pay monthly."

What landlords can do

Landlords have the option to receive the full rent upfront while tenants get to pay in monthly instalments via their credit or debit card. The Keyper option allows the partner real estate agents to 'close more deals' without asking landlords and tenants to 'compromise on their preferred payment terms'.

After rents zoomed up in the last 3 years, the number of landlords willing to consider 12 month payments had gone down significantly. Keyper, with the new rental option, hopes to get the 12 payment option back on the agenda.

"While there was a trend during Covid to offer more flexible payment terms, it never moved to 12 payments, as landlords are generally comfortable with 4 payments," said Shihabi. "Once the (Dubai property) market recovered, it dramatically shifted back to 1 and 2 (rental) payments.

"With the Keyper RNPL Marketplace tenants can now pay monthly on an increasing number of Dubai units that until recently would require 1 or 2 upfront payments. Keyper enables the tenant to pay in 12 payments while meeting the landlord’s requirement for 1 or 2 payments."

Add more emirates

Once the scheme picks up the numbers, the plan is to extend the 12 instalment rental option to some of the other emirates.

The rent payments are automatically deducted once a month from the tenants’ credit/debit card on a pre-agreed schedule, 'just like your Netflix subscription'.

The Dubai property firms participating in the project are Dacha Real Estate, McCone Properties, D&B Properties, and Alba Home.

"For our agents, this is a great deal because they get qualified clients from the Keyper marketplace," said Alessia Sheglova, CEO of Dacha Real Estate. "We also get to close more deals faster as Keyper can breach the gap on payment terms."