Combating data chaos with easysquare – full control with the app for prospective tenants

Now, the new Regulation has hardly taken effect and the first waves of cease-and-desist letters are being reported on the web. Individual companies have already received letters from lawyers demanding, with reference to GDPR infringements, not only a cease-and-desist declaration, but also a payment to the amount of between EUR 300 and EUR 700. And these are just peanuts. According to the new data protection law, compensation amounting to millions of euros is possible, and the business of issuing cease-and-desist letters is clearly highly lucrative.

The new requirements with regard to handling data are leading to numerous hurdles for housing companies, too. Even very good processes are now showing their limits. On the current rental market, where it is not rare for up to 1,000 applications in all forms to be sent in for one apartment, the selection procedure is not only extremely time-consuming and costly. It is hardly possible to deal with the flood of data correctly and securely in line with the new Regulation. Some people looking for housing submit their application documents to three different service centres. Others send their proof of income, together with a copy of their identity card, by e-mail without being asked. Data that has been “stored” in mailboxes for months or even years – probably forgotten about and no longer needed – can now be extremely costly for housing companies.

So if you haven’t already done so, you should now really think about mobile and “smart” digital solutions. After all, companies offering or developing apps have always had to meet a wide range of data protection requirements. They are ready to cater to requests for clever solutions and know which criteria really need to be met. For instance, the product developers of the easysquare app for prospective tenants always had in mind how users can handle the huge quantities of data – some of which is sensitive – and at the same time find the most suitable potential tenants.

Using the easysquare app for prospective tenants, housing and property management companies can save a great deal of time as users manage their own documents at the press of a button. Users also decide which data the company can view and when the data should be deleted.

Prospective tenants can enter and edit all their data in the “My Data” service. In particular, it is possible to upload documents of relevance to the rental contract which require potential tenants to explicitly grant the company access.

The benefits are obvious: no mountains of paper in the service centre, no sensitive data in the e-mail mailboxes. All data and key functions are clearly combined in a central application. This concentration not only cuts costs and saves time. It is also the most effective way of complying with the new data protection requirements.