Seven kinds of proptech tenants actually use

Property technology, or proptech, is a crowded field, and most of it is built for landlords, investors and property managers. Tenants mostly meet it second-hand, through whatever the building has installed. But a handful of categories do real work for the people renting the space, especially small businesses without a facilities manager. Here are the seven I see tenants actually using, what each is for, and the question to ask before you rely on it.

Getting in and getting around

1. Mobile access and visitor management

Phone-based credentials that replace plastic fobs are now common in newer and renovated buildings. Paired with a visitor-management system, they let you pre-register a client so they get a code or a pass at the lobby instead of waiting at a security desk. For a small office, the practical win is not having to collect fobs from departing staff. Ask the property manager how quickly a credential can be revoked and who in your team can do it.

2. Tenant experience apps

Many landlords now offer a building app that bundles access, amenity booking, building notices and sometimes local perks. Quality varies a lot. The good ones save you emails to the management office; the weaker ones are a newsletter with a login. Since an app’s running costs may be recoverable as an operating expense under some leases, it is fair to ask what it costs and whether tenants were consulted.

Running the space day to day

3. Room and desk booking

Hybrid work turned desk booking from a corporate luxury into a small-business tool. If your team is in on different days, a simple booking system tells you how many desks you really need, which is useful evidence when your lease comes up for renewal. Many tenants use the scheduling features of software they already pay for rather than a separate product. Either works; the point is the data.

4. Work-order and maintenance portals

Submitting a repair request through a portal rather than a phone call creates a time-stamped record. That record matters if a recurring problem — a leaking window, an HVAC unit that never keeps up — becomes a dispute about the landlord’s repair obligations. Screenshot or export your requests and responses periodically, especially before a renewal or move-out.

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The best proptech for a tenant is anything that leaves a clean paper trail you control.

Keeping track of the lease itself

5. Lease administration and critical dates

This is the category small tenants underrate. A renewal option often has to be exercised in writing within a fixed window, commonly six to twelve months before expiry, though the exact period depends on your lease. Miss it and the option can lapse. Lease administration software, or even a well-kept spreadsheet with calendar reminders, records the key dates and obligations: renewal and termination notice windows, rent steps, insurance renewals, operating cost reconciliation deadlines and audit rights. Some tools use automated extraction to pull terms out of a lease PDF; check the output against the document, because a misread date is worse than no reminder.

6. Utility and energy dashboards

Where a suite is submetered, some buildings give tenants a dashboard of their own electricity use. That makes it easier to check that utility charges on your invoice reflect your actual consumption and to spot equipment left running overnight. If your space is not submetered and utilities are allocated by square footage, a dashboard will not change your bill, but it may still help you make the case for submetering if your use is unusually low.

Finding the next space

7. Listing platforms and virtual tours

Online listings and 3D walk-throughs have made the early stage of a space search much faster. You can shortlist a dozen suites from a desk and visit three. The limit is that listings show asking terms, not what a landlord will actually agree to, and they say little about operating costs or the lease form. Use them to narrow the field, then let a broker and a lawyer do the parts that need judgment.

Before you rely on any of them

A short checklist applies across all seven. Find out who provides and pays for the tool — you, the landlord, or the landlord via operating costs. Find out who can see the data, including your employees’ access records and your lease terms. Find out whether you can export your records if you move. And keep the important things, like your signed lease and notice letters, somewhere you control.