Business · Economy · 4 hrs ago
Rent platforms replace card surcharges with fees and paid memberships
Australian rent-payment platforms are changing how tenants pay after a national ban on card surcharges took effect on 1 October.
The platforms process at least 1.2 million rent payments each month, often at the direction of property managers.
OurProperty stopped taking direct card payments and now routes them through a service that charges a 1.95% fee.
In Victoria, where rent-payment fees are being banned more broadly, OurProperty plans to waive that fee for tenants who buy a membership costing 1.95% of their monthly rent.
Another platform, Ailo, has also moved to paid memberships, while DEFT has stopped accepting cards.
Some tenants say free payment options are difficult or inconvenient, while platform leaders say they are not making more money from the changes.
The dispute matters because tenants may still face costs even though card surcharges are banned, and Victoria’s wider fee ban is due to take effect later this month.
Australian rent-tech platforms are introducing service fees or paid memberships after a ban on credit card surcharges took effect on 1 October.
At least 1.2 million rent payments a month are made through these platforms in Australia.
OurProperty stopped accepting direct card payments and now routes payments through Pay4it, which charges a 1.95% service fee.
In Victoria, OurProperty plans to offer a paid membership that waives card service fees, while tenants are granted a free silver membership by default.
A Melbourne tenant said the membership framing and difficulty of finding fee-free payment options felt unethical.
- Who
- Australian rent-tech platforms, including OurProperty, Ailo and DEFT, are changing how renters pay. Tenants are affected.
- What
- Platforms are replacing card surcharges with service fees or paid memberships, or no longer accepting cards.
- When
- The Reserve Bank’s surcharge ban took effect on 1 October. Victoria’s new system of OurProperty memberships is due to begin on Tuesday.
- Where
- Australia, including Victoria.
- Why
- Platforms say they are responding to card-processing costs after surcharges were banned.
Rent-tech platforms
Tenants
Costs
Rent-tech platforms
OurProperty founder Russell Burstow said the costs would otherwise be passed to agencies and landlords, and could lead to higher rents.
Tenants
Hazel Kearns-Rees said the membership framing and deliberately difficult free payment options felt unethical.
Payment options
Rent-tech platforms
OurProperty said its Victorian memberships include new app features, while Ailo said fee-free options had not changed.
Tenants
Kearns-Rees objected to the difficulty of making a fee-free rent payment.
There’s no way that the agency would absorb that sort of money
The framing of the costs as memberships … and the fact that all free options are made to be deliberately very difficult and inconvenient feels pretty unethical
The ways that they are making it specifically difficult to make a fee-free rent payment is really disgusting, especially in a cost-of-living crisis.
Victoria prohibited rent-tech companies from charging fees on rent payments.
The Reserve Bank’s ban on surcharging took effect.
OurProperty stopped accepting direct card payments across Australia and routed payments through Pay4it.
OurProperty is due to introduce a new membership system in Victoria.
- Monthly rent payments on platforms
- At least 1.2 million in Australia
- OurProperty’s former card surcharge
- 1.95%
- Pay4it service fee
- 1.95%
- OurProperty platinum membership in Victoria
- Costs 1.95% of monthly rent and waives Pay4it card service fees
- DEFT card payments
- Cards account for 2% of the 1.2 million monthly payments it processes
Sources
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