Deb Gidman's fees are higher than the agency down the road. Her investors know exactly why.

Deborah Gidman chose her property management platform before she had a business to run it in. "I was introduced to Ailo about five or six years ago and always knew that if I started my own agency, that would be the platform that I would choose." When she founded Resident Property in Baldivis, south of Perth, that is what she did.

Three and a half years on, the boutique agency runs on a conviction much of her industry still finds uncomfortable: the rent belongs to the investor, so the investor should hold it.

"A lot of property managers recoil at the thought of them not being in control of the investor funds," Deb told the room at an Ailo After Hours evening at MECCA Subiaco in August, back on the panel as a returning Ailo Ambassador.

She calls that discomfort the biggest selling point in her business when talking with prospective investors. "There's no point in your money sitting in my trust account until the end of the month. How about you control the funds instead?"

In practice, rent reaches the investor as it is paid, and what happens next is their call: pay a bill from the app, or
"have that money go into your offset weekly if you want". Some investors leave it to arrive at the end of the month, as it always did.

The choice comes with one condition, and she sets it on the day they sign. "You can have it as you want. However, if you have a council rates notice that comes in and requires payment, you need to pay it. If you have a hot water system replacement, you have to pay it. Because my contractors need to be paid, and we're not going to delay our contractors." It is a short speech, and it tells an investor a great deal about how she runs things.

It also answers the question every boutique agency hears. Managements in her market are moving between agencies, and investors compare fees.

Renters get the same candour. Their app shows every payment in colour, blue for on time, red for overdue, orange for late, and Deb tells them at sign-up that their investor sees exactly the same thing. "So if you've got orange, orange, orange, when we come to lease renewal, maybe we're taking that into consideration. And people just are paying on time." The trust account, meanwhile, has shrunk to a single job. "All I'm receipting are bonds. Your rent immediately allocates. We don't touch it."

Lately she has been calling every investor on video and asking the same three questions. Do you use Ailo? Are you loving it? What do you like? "I like that I can sit on a Friday night and see where my tenant is paid to. I like that I've got access to everything at my fingertips." Then Deb's summary of what she has built: "It's that full visibility, but I'm still doing the work for them."

That last clause is where the fee lives.