About Keep KLYR
It started with a text message that never got a reply.
The story behind Keep KLYR, and why we exist. (about a 2 minute read)
01 · Why we exist
Hi, the bathroom fan has stopped working again.
Delivered
Ashley, one of our co-founders, was renting. When something needed attention, she did what most of us do and sent her landlord a text. Then she waited. No reply. She couldn't tell whether the message had been seen, ignored, forgotten or dealt with. So the next time something went wrong, she hesitated. And the time after that, a little more.
Nobody did anything wrong here. But something quietly changed.
Ashley slowly lost the confidence, and then the care, to even mention issues, because she never knew if they were being heard. Without a reply, bringing something up starts to feel too personal, like a favour to ask rather than an ordinary part of renting a home. A small, unspoken tension grows between tenant and landlord, and neither of them chose it.
It's also a generational gap. Many of today's tenants are text natives. We don't pick up the phone the way earlier generations did, and we don't expect to. But the way tenants and landlords communicate hasn't caught up, and things slip through the gap.
02 · The other side of the same story
We know how this looks from the landlord's chair too. Members of our own families are landlords, and over the years we've watched small problems become very expensive ones, for a simple reason: something never got mentioned, a text got lost, or a conversation was forgotten. Nobody was careless. There was just no single place where the issue lived, so it fell through.
Same problem. Two points of view.
The tenant didn't feel heard.
The landlord didn't know.
Both ended up worse off.
03 · What a property really is
A property is never only an investment.
For many people, a property is the biggest investment they will ever make in their lifetime. We believe that's special, and it deserves to be treated that way.
But a home is where people spend most of their time. It's where a family is raised. It's where someone fresh out of home lives their youth with friends. It's game nights, and memories, and one day, the grandkids. For some, it's a home. For others, it's their future. For many, it's both.
No matter what property means to you, we're here to help you look after it.
And we believe tenants deserve a good, healthy home. Landlords protecting their investment and tenants living well in it aren't opposing goals. Through Keep KLYR, we want them to be the same one.
04 · So we built Keep KLYR
Keep it clear.
Keep KLYR
Keep KLYR is one place where landlords and tenants sort out maintenance together. Every report, reply and repair is kept in one record you can both see.
That's where our name comes from. KLYR sounds like "clear", and keeping things clear is what we do.
What needs you comes first.
Our AI reads each report your tenants send and sorts it by urgency, so you don't have to work out what needs your attention first.
- 1 · Act now
- 2 · Soon
- 3 · Routine
Tenants feel heard.
Report an issue in moments, with photos, and see that it has been received.
Everything is transparent.
What was reported, when it was seen and what happened next is visible to both sides.
Acknowledgements are accountable.
When a landlord sees an issue, it's recorded. Tenants don't have to wonder, and landlords have a clear record of what they've dealt with.
Small things stay small.
Problems get caught early, which reduces the odds of a surprise expense.
Everything is documented.
A clear, dated record is there when you need it for insurance, warranties and accountability.
Clear communication for everyone.
Everyone gets the clear communication they deserve.
We're also building tools to help you stay on top of your Healthy Homes obligations, so the information is clear, in one place and visible to your tenants too.
05 · Managing it yourself shouldn't be harder than it has to be
Many landlords hand their property over to a property manager, and that's the right choice for plenty of people. But management fees typically run around 7–10% of a property's annual rental income. For many people, that isn't realistic.
Illustrative example. Fees vary by provider.
We don't want to replace you. We want to make how you already manage it much easier.
Keep KLYR gives you the structure, the record and the peace of mind, for a simple subscription that costs less than handing over a percentage of your rent.
06 · We didn't build it from a desk
We didn't want to guess at what landlords need. So we set out to learn from them directly.
We meet with landlords weekly, as professionals, and work alongside them to understand what actually goes wrong, what they find hard and what they wish existed. Their experience has shaped what Keep KLYR is, and it keeps shaping what it becomes.
07 · Who we're built for
Keep KLYR is made for self-managing landlords with a handful of properties, usually two to eight.
You look after your own tenants and your own homes, around a job, a family and a life. You shouldn't need an agency's systems to be a good landlord, and your tenants shouldn't have to chase to be heard.
08 · What we believe
A property is special.
It's an investment, and it's also someone's home, and it deserves to be treated that way.
Silence is the real problem.
Most maintenance trouble starts when nobody knows whether something was seen.
Small things matter.
A leak fixed this week is a ruined ceiling avoided next winter.
Clarity is kindness.
When people know what's happening and what happens next, tension drops on both sides.
Everyone deserves to win.
Tenants deserve a good, healthy home, and landlords deserve to keep their investment. Together, we think both are possible.
09 · Join us
Keep KLYR is a New Zealand company, built here for New Zealand homes. We're running our first pilot with landlords this month, and we're still learning and still listening.
Whether your property is a home, an investment or both, we'd love to have you with us.
Get in touch: klyr@outlook.co.nz