A new service attempting to match prospective renters with available properties is emphasising its similarity to Tinder, the controversial online dating phenomenon.

Ruumi says it “matches you to compatible roommates, based on interests, lifestyles and living preferences – and just like Tinder, you only chat once you’ve matched”, with matching achieved by indicating online that one flatmate likes the other. 

Users can sign-up via Facebook and can provide character references from social media records of friends and previous landlords “in order to show their personality and build trust” according to the press release announcing the launch of Ruumi.

The 29 year old London entrepreneur behind Ruumi, Jack Archer, claims his service is an alternative to “spending hours trawling through property listings that are no longer available or don’t quite fit the bill, to arranging countless viewings, only to find you have nothing in common with the housemates.”

Ruumi is available across desktop, tablet and mobile devices and will start by advertising available properties within the east London boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, with plans for a full roll-out across London soon after.

Earlier this year an app called Knocker also tried to piggyback on the popularity and notoriety of Tinder, by claiming that it was going to showcase homes on the market within the proximity of the user; like Tinder, users would swipe left if they didn’t like the property and swipe right if they did like it.