Dunedin entrepreneurs Leander Schulz and Letisha Nicholas hope their new business will create a collaborative approach to improving the quality of New Zealand rental properties.
The pair originally entered their fledgling business, Rate My Flat, in the Akina Launchpad programme.
Rate My Flat is a website where tenants can score their flats giving potential future tenants the lowdown on what to expect.
After they got involved in Launchpad, Livable was developed.
Mr Schulz said the central purpose of Livable was to foster collaboration between landlords and tenants to improve the quality of rental housing.
The foundation of Livable came over the past two years when Mr Schulz and Ms Nicholas were among the tenants of the so-called ''Worst Flat in Dunedin'' , 47 London St.
The group deliberately took on the flat and, through collaboration with the landlord, managed to gain subsidies for insulation, clear the overgrown property, fill skips with rubbish dumped by previous tenants, and conduct some repair work inside.
Mr Schulz believes the project gave him and Ms Nicholas two years of experience of fostering collaboration between tenant and landlord.
It had given him an understanding of the concerns of being a tenant living in a damp home, but also gave him some empathy for the landlord's perspective that remedial work was expensive.
''What I found was that there is wiggle room [between the demands of tenants and landlords] where you can create a warmer and healthier home,'' he said.
Livable would take the form of an online platform where landlords and tenants could sign up and talk privately in a safe environment. With the help of Livable, a conclusion that satisfied both parties would hopefully be reached.
The form of the online platform was being developed.
Mr Shulz was quick to point out that Livable would not be a substitute for the Tenancy Tribunal and clients coming to the site with serious grievances, such as if one party had broken the law, would be directed to the proper organisations.
The Livable concept is being tested with Dunedin landlords and tenants.
- by Jonathan Chilton-Towle
