How Winkworth Reading transformed their business thanks to the right tech from PayProp

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Winkworth’s story stretches back to 1835, so when Michael Foldvari and his co-founder joined the franchise in 2014, they were building on nearly two centuries of heritage, while setting out to build something distinctly their own.

The early days were modest: three people, no properties, and plenty of ambition.

Today, they operate from two busy offices – Winkworth Reading and Winkworth Newbury – supported by full teams and led on the lettings side by Emma Jack, Director of Property Management.

How’d they do it? By upgrading their infrastructure with PropTech.

Over the past decade, Reapit has provided the operational backbone of Winkworth Reading, while PayProp has transformed how rent is collected, reconciled and reported.

Together, they’ve given the agency the structure to scale with control, not chaos, growing to more than 700 managed properties without growing the admin burden or financial risk alongside it.

Finding the right fit for client accounting

As Winkworth Reading’s main CRM, Reapit helped surface cross- and upsell opportunities between the sales and lettings departments, gave leadership the reporting clarity to see exactly where the agency was winning (and where it wasn’t), and many more levers for growth.

But as their portfolio expanded, client accounting became more of a pressure point. More properties meant more transactions, more reconciliations, more time-consuming and more risk.

Winkworth Reading tried several different options to make client accounting easier, but it had the opposite effect.

According to Michael, the experience was consistently frustrating and losing the agency business:

“We used to outsource our client accounting function and it became horrendous. We lost landlords, things weren't being done correctly. The system that we had had multiple steps in order to pay a landlord and we had to do something, we had to invest in tech that would alleviate that pain.” Michael Foldvari

Salvation came when Reapit merged with the UK’s leading automated rental payment platform, PayProp, bringing smooth client accounting into the same ecosystem as the rest of the agency’s operations.

When rent runs smoothly, everything else does too

Since discovering and moving to PayProp, Winkworth Reading has fundamentally changed their process, and the aforementioned problems have disappeared.

PayProp helps agents make multiple payment runs throughout the day, meaning rather than landlords not getting paid, they can now receive their rent quicker and meet their financial commitments, from mortgages to everyday expenses.

Far from leaving Winkworth Reading, landlords are now regularly comment on how much they love being paid the same day their rent comes in. Michael has seen how that reliability has fed directly into higher landlord retention rates, more positive online reviews, and supercharged their flow of new business from landlords seeking the same speedy experience.

On the tenant side, PayProp has brought clarity and speed. Automated reminders and text messages prompt tenants when rent is due, while the platform quickly flags missed and late payments. Both Michael and Emma describe the arrears-chasing process with PayProp as “straightforward” – a welcome change from more manual, time-heavy approaches.

For Emma, the operational impact PayProp has had is significant.

“On a Monday morning, we can have between 40 and 60 landlords' rent payments ready to go within a matter of minutes. I wouldn't go back to a time without PayProp for client accounting at all.” Emma Jack

She says PayProp has saved her and her team at least two hours a day on banking alone. Just as importantly, it gives her confidence as a team leader. She can guarantee payments to landlords continue smoothly even if someone is out of the office or on holiday.

Michael echoes that sentiment.

“As a business owner, PayProp has really given me comfort in knowing that my landlords are going to be paid on time and correctly.”  Michael Foldvari

Security you don’t have to second-guess

Behind the scenes, PayProp delivers strong protection for both money and data.

Every payment and piece of sensitive data is protected through measures such as bank-grade encryption and multi-factor authentication (just to name a couple). The Winkworth Reading team has full visibility of each client account, so they always know where funds are and how they’re moving, day or night.

The direct integration between PayProp and Reapit has been just as valuable in regards to security. With data syncing seamlessly across both platforms, information only has to be entered once, whether in the office or out in the field.

By removing duplicate data entry, sensitive information stays off personal devices, overall data accuracy improves, and staff gain extra time. All of this translates into valuable benefits across the board, from higher-quality reports to more personalised client interactions.

“Reapit is our central source of information. Everything feeds back into the system. It controls everything in terms of people's diaries, the property records, the sales records. And PayProp works brilliantly with Reapit to ensure that information is moved backwards and forwards.” Emma Jack

Support that goes beyond the helpdesk

Technology is only part of the equation. For Winkworth Reading, the service behind the software matters just as much.

Michael and Emma both value knowing that if an issue ever does arise – which Michael notes is rare – they can simply pick up the phone, speak to a real person and have their query resolved within minutes.

“PayProp offers outstanding support right from the very beginning. Onboarding 700+ properties is a lot of work, but the support from PayProp throughout the process was unrivalled.” Emma Jack

“I'm aware that I'm in safe hands knowing that the people behind the tech understand my business.” Michael Foldvari

Technology that supports a people business

At its core, property is a people business.

While it’s impossible for any one person to personally know the thousands of landlords, tenants, buyers and sellers Winkworth Reading works with, Michael says having PayProp means he can pull up a landlord’s portfolio or a tenant’s payment history, and instantly understand who they are and what’s happening.

“Every property is unique, as are people's needs, wants, demands. It's hugely important for me to have an understanding of that. Reapit and PayProp give me confidence to be able to deal with people the best possible way I can, and it gives that customer a really positive journey.” Michael Foldvari

For Emma, the experience is much the same.

“Having the right tech allows us to really focus on the people values and communicating with our customers, knowing that the admin-heavy tasks are taken care of.” Emma Jack

Winkworth Reading’s story shows what’s possible when experienced people are backed by technology that genuinely works for them. With Reapit and PayProp handling the heavy lifting, the team, from leadership to front line, can do more in less time, without losing the personal touch that our industry demands.

As Winkworth Reading continues to grow, that same combination of people and technology will remain central to delivering a white-glove experience for every single landlord, tenant, buyer and seller they work with.