Malaysian real estate fintech startup, BlueDuck, has launched their newly-enhanced offering called the Zero Deposit Program in an effort to help fellow Malaysians in the process of renting residential and commercial properties.
The Zero Deposit Program aims to provide responsible tenants with a way to secure a rental without having to worry about the high cost of cash deposits.
Based on internal data analysis, BlueDuck found that Malaysians devote a startling average of 35% of their income to rent alone, surpassing the widely recommended limit of 30%. Additionally, tenancy agreements often include up to 3 months’ worth of rent in advance as well as a security deposit, to be paid in cash, which adds to the financial burden.
According to a survey by WikiImpact, the increasing prices of rental properties in Malaysia will not be sustainable in the long run due to issues such as tenants’ increasingly limited cash flow and an inability to save up to own their own property caused by the hiking of rental rates.
From their observations, tenants in Malaysia frequently face issues with cash flow due to unreasonably high cash deposit requirements. At the same time, property agents and landlords want to ensure that their property gets rented out to responsible and respectable tenants as quickly as possible.
Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Blue Duck Tech Sdn Bhd, Earnest Wong, said, “Our aim at BlueDuck is to revolutionise Malaysia’s rental landscape. In just a short amount of time, since we first penetrated the market in 2021, BlueDuck has already replaced outrageous rental deposits worth RM12 million. We are now setting our sights to reach more users and eradicate RM500 million worth of these cash rental deposits within the next five years and fulfil our vision of becoming the leading rental industry towards sustainable living and financial freedom.”
The yearly-subscription package for the newly-enhanced Zero Deposit Program is now accessible to better serve all Malaysian residential and commercial tenants. With this program, tenants can easily lower their move-in costs, while landlords and property agents can confidently trust their verified tenants.
On top of that, through BD Pay, BlueDuck’s own FPX payment gateway feature, both parties can make payments and collections in no time through auto-debit or credit card without letting any due payments slip through the cracks.
Edmund Chong, CTO and co-founder of Blue Duck Sdn Bhd also added, “We’re ecstatic to expand our offering to the real estate and rental landscape to offer assistance to hardworking Malaysians who need a helping hand with renting while facing their strained finances. This bold and audacious undertaking by BlueDuck will hopefully transform the lives of tenants across the nation and usher in an era of financial freedom for Malaysian tenants. We hope that our platform can bring about reform to the rental sphere to welcome a more sustainable and affordable choice, where tenants can afford to allocate their hard-earned income towards other important goals and aspirations.”
BlueDuck is a recipient of Cradle Fund’s CIP Sprint grant and was previously awarded the Malaysia Digital Status by MDEC. The startup is dedicated to eliminating expensive and oppressive cash rental deposit models. Its mission is to phase out cash rental deposits by replacing RM500 million in the next 5 years and putting the money back into the tenants’ wallets.