UK private investors can now target the property maintenance market through an intuitive digital platform called EVO which connects social housing landlords, tenants and tradespeople.

The EVO application provides a more efficient way to maintain and responsively repair property by providing a fully managed solution so that both landlord and tenant don’t have the hassle of sorting, while unlike other providers, all builders are pre-approved, and EVO warrants the work for 12 months. This not only allows tenants to feel in control and enhances their experience which reduces void periods, but  it saves administrative time and management cost for landlords. Being subscriptions based, all costs are also transparent and consistent. 

Currently EVO is instructed on over 5,500 properties for both private and public sector landlords, and works in partnership Capital Letters and their 20 member London Boroughs, but aims to onboard over 300,000 properties by 2026, 3% of the UK repairs market. They plan to do this by targeting private landlords, major lettings agents and aggregators, and social housing providers & large scale property investors.

It recently signed partnerships with Registered Providers of Affordable Housing SimplyPhi (formerly Phi Capital Investments) and Storm Housing – between them with over 7,000 social housing units planned by 2028, and before Christmas partnered with London’s Homelessness NFP organisation Capital Letters in an effort to free up much needed temporary accommodation through an accelerated maintenance and repairs programme. It also works with leading property brands British Land, Grainger and Acorn.

The company’s fundraising activities spans both private and direct investment via the highly regulated and robust compliance platform Seedrs, and its secondary market where investment is more accessible to the general public.

With social and affordable housing firmly on the built environment political agenda and renters expected to outnumber homeowners by 2039, the company is offering investors a chance to boost its social impact and ESG activities alongside strong potential future returns as the platform’s growth agenda takes shape

Steven Rae, CEO of EVO, says: “We have a tangible growth strategy which will take EVO nationwide and offer both capital investors and members of the public the opportunity to access growing returns while boosting their social impact activities.

“We know that the UK’s property rental market needs fixing and we, and our many clients, partners and tenants, believe we have the solution. This is a chance to scale our services up and remove swathes of administration from landlords up and down the country who have been leaving the PRS in droves because of various hurdles.

“For housing providers we are able to enhance the customer experience by accelerating repairs within the tenants’ control and, perhaps most importantly, for temporary accommodation and social housing we are able to speed up the fixing of hundreds of units that weren’t up to living standards, helping to house those on waiting lists who have a right to safe, secure and healthy housing.” 

EVO which is valued at £7.3m, is offering equity of up to 12% and has a current share price of £2.18 per share. The company is looking for minimum funding of £1m in this round which closes on 30 March 2023 and has already reached 84% of this target.