The verdict in three sentences
A custom tenant portal for a stock of 9,000 homes costs between EUR 60,000 and 110,000 excluding VAT in 2026, for a 5-month project. The line that moves the bill most is the connector to the housing management system, which alone accounts for EUR 12,000 to 25,000. A realistic target is to move 40% of repair requests and complaints online in year one, freeing the equivalent of 2 FTE of contact centre time.
What tenants actually expect from a portal
A landlord with 9,000 homes typically receives 45,000 to 55,000 calls a year, and more than half are about three topics: a repair in the home, the amount on the rent statement and a rent confirmation letter. Each call costs EUR 4 to 7 of agent time once re-keying is counted. The portal must therefore cover these three uses before any nice-to-have feature, and work on an entry-level smartphone for residents who are not always comfortable online.
| Module | Tenant use | Budget excl. VAT | Share of avoided calls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scoping, DPIA, user journeys | Preparation | EUR 6,000 to 10,000 | Indirect |
| Tenant account and authentication | Sign-in, profile, contacts | EUR 6,000 to 10,000 | 5% |
| Repair requests with photos and tracking | Report a fault, follow the contractor | EUR 14,000 to 25,000 | 45% |
| Rent statements, letters, online payment | View, download, pay by card | EUR 10,000 to 18,000 | 35% |
| Housing management system connector | Sync tenancies, statements, tickets | EUR 12,000 to 25,000 | Prerequisite for everything else |
| Satisfaction surveys and back office | Rating after each repair | EUR 5,000 to 10,000 | 5% |
| Testing, WCAG accessibility, go-live | Quality | EUR 7,000 to 12,000 | Indirect |
| Total | EUR 60,000 to 110,000 |
Accessibility is not optional for social landlords: public-sector bodies must meet WCAG 2.2 AA and publish an accessibility statement, and every landlord serves older and disabled residents. In England, the Tenant Satisfaction Measures and the Housing Ombudsman complaint handling code also make the post-repair survey module directly useful for regulatory reporting.
System integration and data protection: the two real workstreams
The portal is only worth what its data is worth. It must read tenancies, balances and statements from the housing management system and create repair requests there without re-keying. Depending on the installed version, the vendor offers a modern API, older web services or simple scheduled file exchanges.
| Integration mode | Data freshness | Connector cost excl. VAT | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor REST API | Real time | EUR 12,000 to 16,000 | API licence sometimes billed EUR 3,000 to 8,000/yr |
| SOAP web services | A few minutes | EUR 15,000 to 20,000 | Documentation often incomplete |
| Scheduled file feeds | 1 to 4 times a day | EUR 14,000 to 22,000 | Stale balances, disputes about amounts |
| Replicated staging database | 15 to 30 minutes | EUR 18,000 to 25,000 | Depends on the infrastructure team |
| Manual entry by the contact centre | Variable | EUR 0 | Cancels the productivity gain |
On data protection, the portal handles sensitive data by nature: household situation, arrears, sometimes disability. A DPIA is strongly recommended, with UK or EU hosting, encrypted attachments, logging of staff access and retention periods aligned with your records of processing (for example 6 years after the tenancy ends for financial data). Card payments go through a regulated provider at 0.3 to 0.8% per transaction, with Direct Debit remaining the main payment method.
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Mini case study
Helen, head of customer services at a 9,000-home housing association near Leeds, signs off a portal at EUR 92,000 delivered in 5 months, plus EUR 1,800 per month for support and hosting, EUR 113,600 in year one. Estimated annual gains: 2 FTE of contact centre time redeployed to tenancy sustainment, valued at EUR 40,000 each, i.e. EUR 80,000, plus paperless rent statements for 50% of tenants: 9,000 × 12 × 50% × EUR 0.90 of printing and postage, i.e. EUR 48,600. Against EUR 128,600 of gains, the project pays back in about 10.6 months.
FAQ
Do we have to go through the housing system vendor? No, but you need their agreement to access the API or web services. Allow 2 to 4 weeks to obtain documentation and a test environment, and check whether an annual interface licence of EUR 3,000 to 8,000 applies.
Will older tenants use the portal? Some will, not all. We see 25 to 35% of accounts activated in year one and 40% of repair requests online when caretakers and the contact centre help with sign-up. The phone line stays open for everyone else.
Do we need a native mobile app? Rarely. A progressive web app installable on the home screen covers 95% of uses and avoids EUR 20,000 to 40,000 of iOS and Android development plus app store management.
How long does a portal like this take? Plan 5 months: 4 weeks of scoping and DPIA, 12 weeks of build, 4 weeks of testing with a panel of 50 to 100 pilot tenants.
How do we measure success? Track the share of activated accounts, the share of repair requests made online (target 40%), monthly call volume and post-repair satisfaction scores. These indicators appear in the back office from go-live.
Let's scope your project. Tell us the size of your stock, your housing management system and your priority modules, and we will price your tenant portal within the EUR 60,000 to 110,000 range with a 5-month plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
