Posted by Johanna Santos
Skills shortages, rising costs and growing obligations are putting increasing pressure on housing companies and cooperatives. One often-overlooked opportunity to create capacity lies in their own contract processes.
The challenges facing the housing sector are well known and experienced employees are retiring, taking valuable knowledge with them. At the same time, attracting new talent is becoming more difficult, particularly in competition with other industries.
Meanwhile, responsibilities continue to grow. The energy transition in existing buildings, new legal requirements and increasing documentation obligations all require time and expertise.
Cost pressure adds another challenge. According to German association VdW südwest, construction costs have risen by more than 50% since 2019, while subsidy programmes are being reduced. In this environment, every hour spent on administration is an hour that cannot be spent supporting tenants and members, developing neighbourhoods or modernising housing stock.
“Housing companies and cooperatives are being asked to achieve more with the resources they already have. That makes it important to look closely at where employees’ time is going, and which repetitive tasks can be simplified or automated.”
Hiring more people is not always a realistic short-term solution. The labour market simply cannot provide all the additional capacity the sector needs.
That makes it increasingly important to use existing working time where it creates the most value. The same trend can be seen in property management: In a panel discussion at the VDIV Verwaltertag 2026, it was mentioned that 70% of companies identify digitalisation as a top business priority, while 77% plan to automate internal processes.
The principle also applies to housing companies and cooperatives: standardise recurring processes, capture data only once, and reduce unnecessary handovers between systems and people.
This does not have to mean a major IT project. A practical starting point is often a single, clearly defined process, and contract processes are a good candidate.
Tenancy agreements, cooperative user agreements, service and contractor orders, powers of attorney and protocols are part of everyday operations.
Many of these processes are already digital. A property is advertised online, documents are submitted electronically and the contract is created in an ERP or property management system.
Then, often, the digital process ends at the printer. The document is printed, signed, scanned, sent back by email or post, checked and filed. If a signature is missing, the process starts again.
Each individual step may only take a few minutes. Across hundreds or thousands of contracts, however, those minutes add up. There are also printing and postage costs, document storage and the time employees spend following up on missing paperwork.
Electronic signatures can remove much of this friction. But before introducing them, one important question needs to be answered: what type of electronic signature is legally appropriate?
The European eIDAS Regulation distinguishes between three levels of electronic signature:
The QES is the electronic signature level that can satisfy a statutory written-form requirement under the relevant legal framework.
Not every document requires a qualified signature. Some agreements will continue to require other formalities, for example property purchase agreements that must be notarised.
For many day-to-day housing documents, however, an advanced or simple electronic signature may be sufficient. Examples can include open-ended tenancy agreements, SEPA direct debit mandates, handover and acceptance protocols, WEG circular resolutions, modernisation notices, property management agreements, rental certificates, and contractor and service orders.
The fact that a document does not require written form does not mean that legal certainty is unimportant. If a dispute arises, organisations need to be able to establish who signed a document, when it was signed and whether it has been altered since.
A suitable electronic signature solution should therefore provide the appropriate signature level for each use case, together with a reliable audit trail.
When there is uncertainty about a specific document or process, legal advisers or the relevant industry association can usually provide guidance.
“The goal should not simply be to replace a handwritten signature with an electronic one, but to improve the overall process. While providing more evidence than in offline processes, this step can also boost attached processes and make the whole customer/tenant journey much more seamless.”
Once the legal requirements are clear, implementation can be straightforward.
Digitalising contract processes does not necessarily mean replacing established ERP or property management systems. In many cases, the better approach is to connect new capabilities to the systems already used in day-to-day operations.
The starting point can be small. For example, electronic signatures can initially be introduced through an online portal without any integration. Organisations can then build on this by integrating signing directly into existing systems, adding digital forms and identity verification, or managing contracts digitally after signing.
For example, contract management tools can help organisations keep track of important dates and reduce the risk of missed deadlines.
For tenants and members, the process becomes simpler: receive the contract digitally, review it on a smartphone or laptop and sign it from wherever they are.
For employees, fewer manual handovers, follow-ups and filing tasks mean more time for work that requires their expertise.
The market is evolving in parallel. PropTech providers, as well as ERP and CRM vendors, are increasingly incorporating digital contract signing into their platforms. The aim is a seamless process from contract creation to legally secure signing, without switching systems or returning to paper.
For housing companies and cooperatives, it can therefore be worthwhile to speak with their existing software providers about the options already available, and what is planned for the future.
Digitalising contract processes means entrusting sensitive information to technology providers. Tenancy agreements, for example, can contain personal and financial data.
Security, data protection and legal validity therefore need to be considered alongside usability and efficiency.
Scrive is a Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP) under the European eIDAS Regulation and offers electronic signatures at all levels, including qualified electronic signatures. Scrive is also ISO 27001:2022 certified, operates in compliance with the GDPR and processes data within the EU.
Skills shortages and cost pressure are likely to remain challenges for housing companies and cooperatives for some time.
Digital contract processes will not solve these challenges on their own. But they can remove unnecessary administrative work and create more capacity where it matters: supporting tenants and members, developing neighbourhoods and maintaining and modernising the housing stock.
And organisations do not have to transform everything at once. Starting with one well-defined contract process can be enough to demonstrate what is possible, and create a foundation for further digitalisation.
“Future-proofing does not have to mean changing everything at once. Start with a process where the benefits are clear, build from there and make digitalisation work alongside the systems and processes you already have.”
Erhard Wiese, VP Market Development Germany, Scrive
Would you like to identify which of your contract processes could be digitalised and where it makes sense to start? Contact Scrive for a no-obligation conversation about your current processes and the options available.
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