Cost-Effective And All-Inclusive
While renting an apartment or admitting to a hostel have been the conventional options, they come with many responsibilities or restrictions. One needs to arrange for furniture, house help, cook, grocery shopping, bill payments, Wi-Fi connections in a rented apartment; or face time restrictions and poor facilities when it comes to hostels. On the other hand, co-living spaces take care of all the necessities.
The facility also has a common reading room and TV area, and we enjoy the weekly events organised here. If we were to rent a regular apartment in the same area, it would have cost us around Rs 25,000 for just the house (one BHK), plus an extra Rs 8,000 each for paying bills and other facilities. Also, we would have had to bear the shifting costs of our belongings. My roommate and I each save nearly Rs 8,000 every month.”
Digitized, Hence Hassle-Free
Though legal procedures for both – traditional and co-living rentals – are quite similar, technological advancement and the absence of brokers in co-living facilities make it easier. “One needs to sign a legal agreement in both situations. However, with respect to traditional rentals, everything needs to be done either by you, the landlord, or the agent. And if there’s an agent involved, generally, you need to pay him one month’s rent as his fees.
With co-living, everything is digitized. Also, the leave and license agreement needs to be signed for a period of 11 months at a stretch in a traditional rental arrangement, whereas you can sign a three/six/12 months agreement with co-living facilities, as per your requirement. But some co-living service providers have a lock-in period, which mandates you to stay at the facility for a prescribed minimum number of days, or else you need to pay some fine.
Security And Amenities
“We check and verify the background of the residents before offering them space. Also, facilities keep a note in case there is a change in the behaviour of a particular resident. To avoid disarray, generally like-minded or of similar backgrounds are asked to share a room. A thorough KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure is also followed by most of the service providers,” Unlike rentals or hostels, the co-living spaces also provide amenities such as gyms, yoga centres, and gaming areas for the residents to relax.
Cost Meets Convenience
The concept of co-living touches the very essence of human existence through community living which involves the renting of a property to multiple people who share rooms, kitchens, balconies and, lounge areas. Having said that, the picture that co-living draws in one’s mind is likely to match with cramped rooms, long waiting lines, recurrent quarrels, chatty corridors and almost a dormitory environment, however, it hardly matches the reality of co-living today.
With state-of-the-art facilities, and fully furnished and serviced rooms, co-living is rather as exciting as a hotel setup that provides a chance to both, connect with the other residents and also live one’s life privately.
Benefits For Property Owners
While being an absolute fairyland for tenants, an investment in co-living is equally favourable and profitable to the investors. With the property well managed and the amenities duly looked after, an investment in co-living offers consistent rental income to the investors along with having a higher rental income than traditional renting in the first place.
With the co-living spaces, finding tenants is managed by the Co-living Operator. With the negligible maintenance costs coupled with regular budget-friendly, minor renovations, the value of the property soars higher, hence, positively affecting the resale value of the space.
Furthermore, saving up on brokerage fees and the pain to deal with unorganized brokers provides a hassle-free renting experience, only to finally deliver a substantially high return on investment.
Rentals On Co-Living Spaces
Considering the per-bed lease model of co-living spaces, the overall rentals per apartment are higher than renting out the whole apartment to a single tenant. However, these higher rentals are offset by the cost of fit-outs, amenities, facility management, etc. There are several models whereby revenue is split between the owner and operator.
