Deposit-free renting and the guarantee model: how HomeShare protects both sides

A guarantee instead of a deposit: why deposits become a problem in large projects

Companies that rent project housing through HomeShare, across Norway and the Nordics, pay no deposit. They provide a guarantee instead of a deposit, and the landlord is still secured throughout the tenancy. A deposit is the usual way to give a landlord security. The tenant pays an amount into a separate account, and the money stays there until the tenancy ends. For one person renting one home, that works fine.

For a company housing a whole crew, the sums look different. Ten separate leases at once can mean NOK 600,000 locked in deposits. That is money standing still throughout the project period, money the company cannot use in its operations. Each deposit also has to be paid in, followed up and paid back when the project is finished.

That makes it cumbersome for a company to rent many homes directly. So HomeShare has chosen a different model: a guarantee instead of a deposit.

The companies that rent through HomeShare pay no deposit. Instead, they provide a simple guarantee with us. The model works like this:

• ✓The guarantee is NOK 30,000 per bedroom.
• ✓It covers unpaid rent, damage and breach of contract.
• ✓It applies for the whole lease period.
• ✓The company has NOK 0 tied up in deposits.

For the company, this means the capital stays in the business. For us, it means there is security behind every tenancy, without anyone having to lock large sums in an account for months or years.

What the model means for you as a landlord

As a landlord, you do not sign the contract with each individual resident. You let to HomeShare, and contract and communication always go between us and you. The people who live in the property are our responsibility.

That changes who you need to trust. Instead of assessing a new private individual every time someone moves in, you have one professional counterparty throughout the tenancy. The tenants are permanent employees of large construction and industrial companies, coordinated by HR departments and project managers, and we vet the residents.

The rent does not depend on each resident paying either. It is set up on direct debit (avtalegiro) from day one and transferred in advance on the 1st of every month. If the 1st falls on a weekend or public holiday, it arrives on the last working day before. You get fixed rent for the agreed period, clear terms in the contract and security that lasts throughout the tenancy.

How the security is set up in your particular agreement is stated in the contract. We set it up, and you read it through and approve it before anything is binding.

When something goes wrong, and why both sides gain from the model

No model can promise that everything always goes to plan. What matters is who takes responsibility when something happens. With an ordinary tenant, it is often the landlord who has to collect unpaid rent, document damage and follow up a breach of contract.

With us, we handle whatever comes up along the way. We take care of check-in, follow up the tenancy and handle check-out and the final settlement when the stay is over. The guarantee the company has provided means we have cover for unpaid rent, damage and breach of contract for the whole period. You deal only with us.

A guarantee instead of a deposit removes a cost for the company without shifting the risk onto the landlord. The company avoids tying up hundreds of thousands of kroner in deposits. The landlord gets a professional tenant, fixed rent and one counterparty to deal with.

For us, it is about making it easy for both sides to say yes. The company should be able to rent without tying up capital, and the landlord should be able to let without carrying the risk alone. Our aim is long tenancies. Lease periods range from three months to five years, and when a tenant moves out, we try to place a new one as quickly as possible.

If you have a property standing empty, you can register it with us in less than five minutes. It is completely non-binding. We assess the property, and if it suits our corporate clients, we get in touch and go through the agreement with you, including how the security is set up.