Our story
The deal between two students was nobody's problem. So we made it ours.
Avouch exists because subletting in college is built on trust and nothing else. Students find each other in Facebook groups and group texts, hand over months of rent and a set of keys, and write none of it down. Most of the time it works out. When it doesn't, there is no agreement, no record, and no one to turn to.
How it started
Our founder learned this twice.
Once, handing off an apartment through the building's official takeover process: the arrangement with the person taking over fell apart, with payments late, one sent twice by accident, and the whole deal living in a text thread. Once, on the other side of it, when a $200 a month credit on the lease was never mentioned and cost him $1,400. Both times, the building's paperwork was fine. The side deal was the part that broke.
What we built
Avouch is that missing piece.
In about five minutes, two people who have already agreed to sublet get a real, e-signed sublease agreement, timestamped photos of the place, and, in 24 states, rent collected from the payer automatically each month. Rent moves through Stripe from the payer's bank or card to the receiver's bank. Avouch never holds it and takes no percentage of it. Avouch is not a listings site.
Get it in writing.
A real agreement and a documented move-in, for the handoff you already arranged. No surprises.