Flexible operating models, multi-party, and Residently

Owners and operators no longer want a single, monolithic way of running portfolios. They want flexibility. They want optionality. And critically, they want to retain control, data and visibility regardless of who is doing the work. This is where flexible, multi-party operating models come in, and why the underlying technology matters more than ever.

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From fixed structures to flexible execution

Historically, residential portfolios have been run in one of two ways:

• Fully outsourced to a third-party agent or property manager
• Largely in-house, supported by a patchwork of point solutions

Both approaches create trade-offs. Full outsourcing often means sacrificing visibility, consistency and data ownership. Fully in-house models can be capital-intensive, slow to scale and difficult to adapt across geographies.

Today’s reality demands something different: the ability to “slice” operations in a way that makes commercial and operational sense without fragmenting the resident journey or losing control.

Marketing, leasing, compliance, payments, maintenance and community management do not all need to sit with the same party. What matters is that they sit on the same operating system.

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What we mean by a multi-party operating model

A multi-party operating model allows portfolios to divide responsibilities across owners, third-party agents and property managers while maintaining a single, connected resident journey.

For example:

• Marketing handled by third-party agents, with leasing and community managed by a specialist property manager
• Owner-led marketing, with leasing and resident experience handed over post-let
• Third-party property managers handling marketing and leasing, while owners retain control of community and renewals
• Hybrid setups where in-house leasing makes sense in core cities, while regional portfolios rely on external partners

These configurations are not edge cases. They are increasingly the norm as portfolios scale, diversify and respond to local market conditions.

The challenge is not deciding who does what. The challenge is ensuring that, regardless of who touches the process, the experience, data and standards remain consistent.

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Why flexibility fails without the right infrastructure

Flexible operating models break down quickly when they are supported by disconnected tools and siloed data.

Each third party brings their own systems, their own workflows and their own reporting. Information is passed manually. Context is lost. Errors creep in. Performance becomes harder to measure, let alone optimise.

This is where many portfolios hit a ceiling. They gain flexibility in theory, but lose it in practice because there is no shared source of truth.

Without a unified operating system:

• Owners struggle to see real-time performance across portfolios
• Property managers inherit fragmented processes they cannot optimise
• Data becomes anecdotal rather than actionable
• Operational excellence is impossible to scale

Flexibility without control is just fragmentation.

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The operating system as the common denominator

Residently’s rental operating system is designed to be the connective tissue across multi-party models.

It allows different parties to own different stages of the resident journey, while all interactions, data and workflows live in one end-to-end system.

The result is a model where:

• Roles and responsibilities can be configured by portfolio, geography or asset type
• Standard operating procedures are embedded in the platform, not in people’s heads
• Every action is tracked, auditable and visible in real time
• Data flows seamlessly from marketing through to renewal and beyond

This creates consistency and control without rigidity.

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Insights+ // Visibility that drives performance >

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Turning flexibility into performance

The real value of flexible operating models is not choice for its own sake. It is optimisation.

When every stage of the rental journey is connected, portfolios can actively test and refine how they operate:

• Bring leasing in-house where scale supports it, and measure the NOI impact
• Compare third-party performance across regions using consistent data
• Reduce voids by removing handover friction between marketing and leasing
• Automate over seven hours of admin per tenancy, regardless of who executes the task
• Identify bottlenecks and leakage that would be invisible in siloed systems

At low cap rates, these efficiencies compound quickly. Reducing voids by up to 30% and stripping admin drag out of operations translates directly into higher NOI and long-term asset value.

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What this means for institutional owners

For owners, the message is clear: operating control does not require operational ownership.

By standardising on a single rental operating system across portfolios, owners can:

• Apply consistent operating standards across all partners
• Retain ownership of data and insight, even when execution is outsourced
• Model different operating scenarios in real time
• Future-proof portfolios without ripping out existing PMS or accounting systems - Residently is not a PMS, but an operating system that plugs in.

In a capital-constrained market, this level of visibility and control is no longer a “nice to have”. It underpins investor confidence and supports capital raising conversations with real operational evidence.

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What this means for third-party property managers

For property managers, flexible operating models are not a threat — they are an opportunity.

Offering multi-party operating models “as a service” allows managers to:

• Win mandates by aligning with owner preferences rather than forcing a fixed model
• Operate more efficiently by standardising workflows across clients
• Differentiate on transparency, data and resident experience
• Scale without proportional increases in headcount

Residently becomes the platform that enables this flexibility, positioning property managers as modern, institutional-grade operators rather than traditional service providers.

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Flexibility is the future

The future of institutional residential will not be defined by who does the work. It will be defined by how well the work is coordinated, measured and improved. Flexible operating models allow portfolios to adapt to market conditions, scale intelligently and protect returns. But flexibility only delivers value when it is underpinned by a unified operating system.

Residently exists to make that possible – turning complex, multi-party operations into a competitive advantage, and transforming operational performance into long-term confidence, credibility and growth.

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