Cubbi

Cubbi is an Australian proptech that allows landlords and tenants to communicate directly through its online service, avoid the real estate middleman and hopefully make an easier experience for everyone. And for the landlord, a cheaper one.

Cubbi profile

Quick facts about the company.

What does Cubbi do?

-Cubbi, in its own words

There are two sides to Cubbi: tenant and landlord. Both can communicate through Cubbi's online platform without the need for a real estate agent.

For landlords

Cubbi clearly offers the most tangible benefits to property owners: it's cheaper than a real estate agent's commission.

Landlords who manage a property through Cubbi pay 2% of the rent back to the company. This is much cheaper than agent commissions, which can range from 5–15%.

Here's an example:

Cubbi also lets landlords find and vet new tenants and handle the set-up process through their platform. This includes approval, the lease agreement and bond lodgement. You can even upload a condition report video through Cubbi.

Once the tenant is settled both parties can communicate via the platform and schedule inspections or repairs.

You can list your property on Cubbi for $199. This includes listing on the big property sites including Domain and realestate.com.au.

For tenants

Cubbi doesn't charge any fees for tenants. Essentially, Cubbi acts as the means through which you communicate with your landlord and handles things like identity verification, signing the lease agreement and lodging the bond.

If you have any issues you need the landlord to address you can communicate with them via Cubbi. It functions somewhat like Airbnb for long-term renting.

People looking for a home to rent can search Cubbi for listings too.

Cubbi background

Cubbi was founded by brothers Jason and Michael Gilbert. Their own negative experiences in real estate (Michael as a real estate agent and Jason as a tenant) motivated them to create a better renting experience.

They still run the company today and employ a small team based in Melbourne, Australia.

What we think

Finder's quick thoughts on the company and its offering.

There are quite a few property management tools for landlords as well as sites that allow you to list your property without help from a real estate agent.

Cubbi seems to occupy a more unique position because there's an ongoing relationship between landlord and tenant. Unlike do-it-yourself listing services (which charge a flat fee) Cubbi does charge a commission, albeit a much smaller one.

And its robust toolset helps landlords manage their investment from start to finish. It seems like a nice balance between convenience and cost. You do it yourself but the platform makes it much easier to do so.

If you're a very well-organised investor with multiple properties then Cubbi might be more than you need and the 2% commission per payment would add up (although still much cheaper than an agent). You might be better off paying a one-off listing fee to find tenants and handle everything yourself.

Is it really much different for tenants?

If you're a tenant and your landlord uses Cubbi you don't really have much choice. It seems like a convenient system to use but it's unclear how Cubbi's "common ground" approach actually works.

On its website, Cubbi says "You deal directly with the owner and Cubbi is here to support you and guide the way". This sounds somewhat like the Airbnb approach, where the company is the "platform" and there is customer support, but landlords and renters should try and work things out for themselves.