ConceptA tool I would build. Not client work.
Enquiry-to-viewing desk
A good flat goes online and forty messages arrive by Tuesday, in three languages, all asking the same four things. By the time each has an answer, the viewing slots are a mess.
Concept
Not client work- What this is
- A tool I would build, drawn to show the idea. Nobody has bought it, and every name and number on these screens is invented.
- For
- A letting agency where one or two people answer every portal enquiry.
- The money
- No Belgian figure I trust. In the UK, Zoopla counts about five enquiries for every home to let (Zoopla, 2026 (opens in a new tab)). A good flat in Gent gets far more, and each one wants an answer and a time.
- Belongs to
- Internal toolsNearest thing I have made: Rental application desk (Own product · Prototype, not shipped)
- Drawn
- 11 Nov 2026 · sheet 3 of 6
Live demo
Forty messages. One viewing. Nobody ranked.
Nobody read yet
Filled in the order people wrote. Nobody is ranked, scored or left out.
Replies are drafted once the slots are set.
Concept
Enquiries to one viewing
Forty enquiries read, one group viewing filled in the order people wrote, and a reply drafted in each person’s language.
The other screens
The replies, and what it never asks.
- Demo LettingsEnquiries40ViewingsReplies40ListingsRulesNever askedSofie VoorbeeldLettings
To Language Slot State Lien VerhoevenPortal · Mon 08:12 Dutch Thu 17:30 Sent Mathis DuboisPortal · Mon 08:19 French Thu 17:30 Sent Arne ClaesPortal · Mon 08:31 Dutch Thu 17:30 Sent Sara HaddadWebsite · Mon 08:47 English Thu 17:30 Edited by Sofie Pieter De SmetPortal · Mon 09:05 Dutch Thu 17:30 Sent Camille LambertPortal · Mon 09:22 French Thu 17:40 Waiting on Sofie Jana WoutersPhone note · Mon 09:40 Dutch Thu 17:40 Draft Tomás RuizPortal · Mon 10:03 English Thu 17:40 Draft Femke GoossensPortal · Mon 10:18 Dutch Thu 17:40 Draft Nina CoppensPortal · Mon 10:55 Dutch Thu 17:40 Draft Lucas MartinWebsite · Mon 11:30 French Thu 17:50 Draft Eline JacobsPortal · Mon 12:14 Dutch Thu 17:50 Draft Anna KowalskaPortal · Mon 12:41 English Thu 17:50 Draft Bram MertensPortal · Mon 13:20 Dutch Thu 17:50 Draft Julie RenardPortal · Mon 14:02 French Thu 17:50 Draft Wout PeetersPortal · Mon 14:37 Dutch Thu 18:00 Draft Hanne WillemsPortal · Mon 15:11 Dutch Thu 18:00 Draft Yusuf DemirWebsite · Mon 16:08 Dutch Thu 18:00 Draft What replies may answerListing only- Free from1 January 2027
- PetsSmall pets allowed
- ParkingNone; residents’ zone
- DomicileAllowed
- BikesBike room, ground floor
Passed to a person1 questionCamille Lambert asks whether a piano can go up to the 4th floor. The listing does not say, so the draft says Sofie will answer herself.
Concept
Replies
Forty drafts in the order the enquiries came. A person reads, edits and sends; the one question the listing cannot answer is theirs.
1 / 2 - Demo LettingsEnquiries40ViewingsReplies40ListingsRulesNever askedSofie VoorbeeldLettingsWhat the desk reads
- Name and how to reach youTo send the reply and the viewing time
- The language you wrote inOnly to reply in it
- When you could move inShown to the agent; never used to sort people
- Your questions about the flatAnswered from the listing, or passed to a person
What it never asks or keeps- Health, origin, religion, orientationNot asked, not read, not stored
- A judicial pastNot asked, not read, not stored
- Income or employerNot at this stage; a person asks later, and only what the law allows
- Household size or childrenNot at this stage; a person asks later, and only what the law allows
- A score, rank or shortlistThe desk has no such field
If someone writes something on this list anyway, the desk leaves it out of every summary and the reply does not mention it.
One enquiry, as the agent sees itMathis Dubois- Came in
- Portal, Mon 08:19
- Asks about
- Pets
- Can move
- From 1 Jan
- Reply
- Sent, in French
- Viewing
- Thu 19 Nov, 17:30
Concept
Never asked
What the desk reads and what it never asks, keeps or sorts by. It has no score field to fill.
2 / 2
What it would be worth
Tuesday afternoon back.
The hours between a listing going online and every person having a time to come and see it. The people are the same; the typing goes.
5.3
enquiries for every home to let in the UK in September 2026, by Zoopla’s count.
Source: Zoopla, Rental Market Report (opens in a new tab), 2026. September 2026, UK. A UK average from a portal, not a Belgian figure and not a result of mine. Your own inbox is the number to trust.
Count the enquiries on your last three listings and time one afternoon of answering them. That is the whole case, either way.
Time spent answering enquiries, in euros
Type your numbers and the sum appears here.
This is the time it takes today, not what a desk would save: a person still reads every reply before it goes. Your numbers stay in this tab.
Where the line is
It sets times. It does not choose tenants.
What it does
- Reads every enquiry from the portals, the website and phone notes into one inbox, in the order they arrived.
- Notes when each person can move in and what they asked.
- Fills a group viewing in arrival order, and moves anyone who cannot make it to another time.
- Drafts a reply in the language the person wrote in, answering only from the listing.
- Passes anything the listing cannot answer to a named person.
What it never does
- Score, rank, shortlist or leave anyone out. There is no field for it.
- Ask about health, origin, religion or a judicial past, or keep it if someone writes it anyway.
- Ask about income or household at this stage. A person does that later, and only as far as the law allows.
- Send a reply without a person pressing the button.
In Flanders the law limits what a landlord may ask a candidate tenant and forbids choosing one on grounds like origin or health (Vlaanderen.be (opens in a new tab)). The desk is built to stay well inside that, and I would have your legal advisor read its rules before it ran.
Want this for real?
I would start with a week on your last ten listings: where the enquiries come from, what people ask, and how viewings are set today. Then a fixed price.
I would scope it as an internal tool: from €18k, usually 3–5 weeks, at a fixed price.