Letting agents see a clear role for AI in property management, but are reluctant to let it operate without human oversight, particularly when decisions involve people, complex circumstances or potentially significant consequences.
Propoly commissioned a survey of UK lettings industry professionals to explore where agents believe AI could provide the greatest assistance, as well as the areas they do not trust the technology to handle.
Compliance administration was ranked the area where respondents believe AI could help the most, followed by processing and reviewing documents, fraud detection, and summarising lengthy email or message chains.
This suggests agents see AI as particularly useful for processing information and reducing the administrative workload involved in running a property business.
However, that willingness to use AI does not extend equally to every part of the role. When asked which areas they believe AI is least suited to, respondents identified five distinctly human aspects of property management.
The five things letting agents don’t want AI to replace
1. Building relationships with landlords
2. Handling difficult conversations or disputes
3. Dealing with sensitive tenant circumstances
4. Assessing situations where there is no clear-cut answer
5. Building relationships with tenants
Propoly suggests that these results show that the boundary agents are drawing around AI is not simply about particular tasks. Instead, it is about situations where context, judgement, communication and human understanding are central to the outcome.
If AI could remove five hours of administrative work from their working week, 21% said they would take the opportunity to correct their work/life balance; 14% said they would spend the additional time speaking to tenants; and another 14% would use the extra time to focus more closely on solving complex problems. A further 12% would focus on winning new business.
The findings point towards an approach where AI is used to support agents rather than replace them, taking on repetitive administration and helping professionals process information, while leaving people in control of decisions that require context, experience and an understanding of individual circumstances.
