Exclsuive interview with Rajneel Kumar, Co- Founder of Rentify

What gap in today’s rental renewal journey led Rentify to develop the Renewal Command Center andwhat does it aim to fundamentally change for property managers and tenants?

Renewals are one of the most valuable recurring events in a residential portfolio, yet they are often managed far too late.

Close to 80% of residential tenants renew each year. That means the renewal book is not an administrative workflow. It is a recurring revenue pipeline. Yet in many portfolios, the process still begins weeks before expiry, with teams working across spreadsheets, emails and disconnected systems.

We built the Renewal Command Center to change that.

The process starts months earlier, with the tenancy history, payment behaviour and relevant portfolio information already structured before the conversation begins.

For property managers, that creates greater visibility over future revenue and gives teams time to make better commercial decisions. For tenants, it means earlier clarity, more transparent terms and greater flexibility around how rent is paid.

The bigger shift is simple: treat retention with the same discipline traditionally reserved for acquisition.

Rentify is positioning Earn AI as an operating system with a specialised AI workforce. What does this mean in practical terms for property managers managing increasingly complex portfolios?

Property management has historically scaled by adding people. We believe the next generation will scale by giving those people significantly more operating capacity.

That is what we mean by an AI workforce.

Earn AI has specialised agents responsible for different parts of the rental lifecycle. Intelligence structures and understands the portfolio. Collections works across outstanding rent. The Renewal Command Center manages the renewal workflow. Each agent has a specific mandate, while important commercial decisions remain subject to human approval.

The difference becomes more significant as portfolios grow. Whether a manager is responsible for 200 units or 8,000, every unit should receive the same level of attention.

Our objective is not to replace the property manager. It is to remove the relationship between portfolio growth and administrative workload.

And importantly, this does not require companies to replace their existing systems. Earn AI is designed to work alongside the ERP, PMS or spreadsheet they already use.

How does the Renewal Command Center bring together tenant intelligence, lease generation, insurance, Open Banking and payments to create a more seamless rental renewal experience?

The problem with renewals is rarely that one individual step is particularly difficult. It is that five or six different steps are handled separately.

Our approach is to turn them into one connected journey.

The Command Center can bring together the tenant’s payment and tenancy history, the commercial renewal decision, lease generation, insurance, affordability information and ultimately payment into the same workflow.

For example, Open Banking through Spare can provide consented financial information that helps support affordability decisions. Insurance through YallaCompare can be introduced at the relevant point in the journey rather than as a disconnected afterthought. Payment and direct-debit capabilities can then complete the process.

For the tenant, the experience becomes much simpler: one journey from renewal offer to signed lease and payment.

For a property manager, the benefit is equally important. Fewer handoffs, less manual coordination and much better visibility over exactly where every renewal sits.

AI adoption often raises questions around trust, judgement and human oversight. How is Rentify ensuring that automation supports decision-making while still keeping the human element at the heart of property management?

There is a very clear line we have drawn at Rentify. The system can prepare and recommend; people remain accountable for the decision.

A property manager understands a landlord relationship, a tenant circumstance or the commercial context of a building in ways that cannot simply be reduced to an algorithm.

What AI can do extremely well is make sure that person has the right information at the right time.

It can surface the renewal early, assemble the tenancy history, identify relevant signals, prepare the workflow and ensure actions do not disappear because someone was busy that afternoon.

And importantly, those actions should be visible and auditable. A manager should be able to understand what happened, why it happened and what information was used.

That is the model we believe in.

The AI carries the repetitive operational load. The property manager retains the judgement, accountability and relationship. At portfolio scale, that distinction becomes incredibly powerful.

By Dr Eleni Margioti, Neuropsychology Lead – The Brain & Performance Centre, A DP World Company

Memory lapses and slower recall are often accepted as an inevitable part of ageing, but a growing body of research tells a more encouraging story. Cognitive decline is not a fixed timeline; it is heavily influenced by daily habits, and some of the most effective of those are also the simplest. The brain responds to how we use it, at every age.

The principle behind this is neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to form new connections and reorganise itself in response to new demands, well into later life. Just as muscles respond to resistance training, the brain responds to being challenged in ways that are unfamiliar or slightly challenging. The key word is “slightly”. Exercises that feel effortless stop offering much benefit once they become routine, which is why variety matters as much as consistency.

Start with working memory

Working memory is the ability to hold information in mind while actively using or manipulating it. We rely on it throughout the day, for example, keeping track of a conversation while formulating a response, holding a PIN in mind long enough to enter it, or mentally reorganising information we have just heard.

Simple daily challenges can exercise this system: repeat a short sequence of numbers backwards, count backwards from 100 in sevens, or hear a short list of items and then recall them in reverse order. As these tasks become easier, gradually increase the difficulty to keep your working memory challenged.

These exercises take only a few minutes and place demands not only on working memory, but also on attention and executive control. The aim is not simply to get better at a particular exercise, but to regularly challenge the brain to hold, manipulate, and work with information.

Make cognitive exercise challenging

Not all cognitive activities challenge the brain in the same way. Sudoku, card games and strategy games can be particularly engaging because each game presents a different problem to solve, requiring attention, planning, working memory and flexible thinking. Playing cards with others can add another layer of challenge through social interaction, decision-making and adapting to another person’s moves.

Puzzles can also provide useful cognitive stimulation, but repeatedly completing the same type of familiar task may become less demanding with practice. The key is variety and progressive challenge: choose activities that remain engaging, change from one attempt to the next, and require you to think, adapt and develop new strategies.

Learn something with no practical use

There is a strong case for taking up a skill purely because it is unfamiliar – a new language, a musical instrument, even learning to draw. These activities activate multiple brain regions at once: memory, coordination, auditory or visual processing, and sustained attention. The learning curve is uncomfortable at first, and that discomfort is largely the point. It is the mental effort of building a new skill, rather than eventual mastery of it, that appears to matter most for neuroplasticity and cognitive reserve.

Do not separate the mind from the body

Cognitive exercises work best alongside physical movement, not instead of it. Activities that combine the two, dancing, tai chi, or even walking while doing simple mental arithmetic, ask the brain to coordinate movement and thought at the same time, which is a more demanding and more effective form of stimulation than either done alone. Aerobic exercise also increases cerebral blood flow and supports the release of neurotrophic factors involved in forming new neural connections.

Make it social

Conversation is one of the most complete cognitive workouts available. It draws on memory, language, attention and emotional interpretation, often within a single sentence. Group activities like a book club, a card game, volunteering, combine social engagement with mental challenge, and social isolation has been consistently linked with an increased risk of future cognitive decline.

Protect the sleep that consolidates it

Mental exercise only pays off if the brain has the opportunity to consolidate what it has practised. Memory consolidation takes place largely during deep sleep, alongside the clearance of metabolic waste products. Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule and good-quality sleep is an important part of cognitive health. Cognitive training provides the challenge; sleep helps the brain consolidate and retain what it has learned.

Consistency over intensity

The most common mistake is treating cognitive exercise as an occasional activity rather than a habit. An hour of puzzles once a week does far less than ten- or fifteen-minutes woven into daily life. Pairing a new mental exercise with an existing routine over morning coffee, during a commute, or before bed, tends to be what makes it stick.

None of these strategies can guarantee the prevention of cognitive decline, and persistent or concerning memory changes should always be discussed with a healthcare professional. However, the brain remains remarkably adaptable throughout life. The most effective approaches do not need to be complicated; they simply encourage the brain to keep doing what it does best: learning, adapting, and responding to new challenges.

Grovy Developers, an award-winning real estate developer in Dubai, has broken ground on Ramada Residences by Wyndham at Dubai Islands, marking the start of main construction on the boutique branded residences. The project is developed in partnership with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and USquare Luxe Properties, the landowner and development partner.

The groundbreaking follows the signing of the agreement with Wyndham and the unveiling of the project’s show apartment earlier this year.With enabling works complete and structural works now underway, the development has reached a key stage of construction.

Grovy Developers has appointed Jaseera Building Contracting LLC as the main contractor for the project. Established in 2018, the Dubai-based contractor has built a strong reputation for delivering residential, commercial, and industrial developments across the UAE, with expertise spanning civil, structural, MEP, and fit-out works. Its portfolio includes a range of landmark projects across the UAE, alongside several ongoing developments in Dubai and the wider region. Drawing on its multidisciplinary team and end-to-end construction capabilities, Jaseera will oversee the development through to completion, ensuring it is delivered to the specifications and quality standards agreed with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.

Abhishek Jalan, CEO of Grovy Developers, said “Breaking ground is the point at which commitments become physical. When we signed with Wyndham, we committed to delivering the project to a high standard, and today, the development is progressing well against that commitment. Appointing Jaseera Building Contracting LLC gives us a delivery partner with the capacity and the site experience to hold that schedule, and we will be measuring progress against it every month.

Grovy has built its reputation in the UAE since 2015 on delivering what we commit to, and our completed projects in Jumeirah Village Circle are the evidence of that. We are applying the same discipline to Ramada Residences. Our ambition is to create homes that deliver value beyond the physical asset. By bringing a globally recognised hospitality brand like Ramada into the development, we are adding an established layer of brand credibility, exceptional service standards, and hospitality expertise that strengthens the overall proposition for both residents and investors. This partnership is designed not only to elevate the living experience but also to enhance the asset’s long-term appeal, marketability, and value.”

Ramada Residences by Wyndham at Dubai Islands comprises a collection of one, two, and three-bedroom apartments, along with four-bedroom penthouses, all delivered fully furnished. Residents will benefit from hotel-grade services and operations underpinned by Wyndham’s quality assurance, alongside more than 20 leisure amenities including an aqua gym, golf simulator, open theatre, and a temperature-controlled infinity pool. The development is among a select number of residences approved for short-term leasing on Dubai Islands, giving owners additional flexibility and income-generating potential.

The development is located within Dubai Islands, a master-planned waterfront destination designed to offer a blend of residential, hospitality, leisure and retail experiences, with beaches, green spaces and connectivity to key destinations across Dubai.