AI Moves In: From Fixing Toilets to Leasing Apartments, Tech Is Taking Over the Rental Game

The rental world is getting a serious AI makeover. Forget chasing your landlord for a repair or filling out stacks of lease paperwork — artificial intelligence is now stepping in to handle everything from work orders to renewals, showings, and even property investment due diligence.

What used to be a slow crawl toward tech adoption in real estate has turned into a sprint, thanks to AI’s ability to not just answer questions but make decisions. One of the most advanced areas so far? Virtual leasing agents — AI chatbots that can talk to prospective tenants and guide them through the process without a human in sight. Still, only a few companies are using truly autonomous “agentic AI” at scale.

On the investor side, AI is proving to be a time-saver for acquisitions. Traditionally, buying a big apartment complex means sifting through piles of leases by hand to create a rent roll.

“With AI, you just feed in the leases and get a clean, ready-to-use summary for your underwriting model,” says John Helm, founder of RET Ventures, a fund focused on real estate tech.

RET’s network includes 60 multifamily operators managing more than 3 million units — a big testing ground for new tools.

AI is also creeping into back-office work. RET-backed startup PredictAP, for example, reads paper invoices from vendors like plumbers and landscapers, then automatically enters the details into the accounting system. No more manual coding.

Then there’s Funnel, a platform that’s trying to centralize the renter experience across entire apartment portfolios. CEO Tyler Christiansen says AI makes it possible to “cross-sell” tenants — like offering someone moving out of one property a lease at another in the same landlord’s network. It’s a strategy big players like Camden Property Trust, MAA, and Essex Property Trust are already exploring.

Still, this isn’t a full-blown AI takeover yet. The tech is pricey, operators are experimenting, and the apartment market itself is fragmented — with most of the 50 million US rental units owned by small landlords.

“Over the next several years, the challenge will be figuring out which AI tools actually have staying power,” Helm says.

In other words, expect a lot of flashy demos — but only some will stick around long enough to truly change the way we rent.

The original story by Diana Olick for CNBC.