After weeks of looking online for a new rental, you find a great place. You tell the agent you're definitely interested, submit your application via the agent’s iPad at the open house, and later pay the bond by direct transfer.

But there’s still one more thing you need to do before you can move in – visit the real estate agent to sign the lease agreement.

You could get the agent to post it to you, sign it, then mail it back.

Or you could go by the agent’s office before work. Or after work. Or on the weekend.

But here’s a better idea.

How about having the rental agreement sent to your phone where you can digitally sign it and send it back within minutes?

This idea occurred to Andrew Colaguiri, founder and director of real estate agency Brightside Residential in Sydney’s Darlinghurst, about 18 months ago.

Andrew Colaguiri. Source: Supplied

Frustrated with the time-consuming process of having tenants sign leases, he went on to create Flk It Over, a web platform – so there’s nothing to download – for digitally signing and returning lease agreements.

“I realised the way we sign lease agreements in 2018 was the same as in 1918 – nothing had changed in a hundred years,” he told Information Age.

“This outdated process from approval to signing a lease takes around a week and can be particularly complicated for properties where there’s more than one tenant, or the prospective tenant is relocating interstate or overseas.”

“With more than a third of Australians now renting, the demand is there for this technology,” he said.

Flk It Over takes a tenant through the leasing process one step at a time, with the tenant needing to press a tick at the completion of each step indicating their approval.

A screenshot from Flk It Over. Source: Supplied

At the end, the tenant signs the lease with their finger on the screen, then flicks the signed agreement back to the agent.

The platform also lets tenants store emergency electrician and plumber details, so that when a water pipe bursts at 3am, they’re not scrambling for that lease paper they signed months ago.

Agents pay $150 to $300 per month for the service, depending on their size. They can view at what stage a tenant is up to in Flk It Over via a dashboard, and send an SMS reminder if needed.

Once the tenant and agent have both signed, a PDF copy of the signed lease is emailed to both parties.

Flk It Over has launched in NSW, with Victoria and Queensland next.