Hubb NYC Case Study | Rentable

Case Study

Hubb NYC — New York City

Enterprise Security Deposit Management for Property Managers

How we helped New York-based Hubb NYC offload two FTEs worth of admin time.

"Any real estate company should look at Rentable. You can't lose anything."

Sun Yi, VP Controller — Hubb NYC

Background

A company built on doing everything in-house

Hubb NYC is an owner-operator with a portfolio of 69 mixed-use, multifamily, and commercial properties across New York City. Since 2011, they've managed everything internally. No third parties. No outsourcing. Total control over every process, including security deposits.

That was exactly the problem. As the portfolio grew, deposit management became one of the most time-consuming, compliance-heavy, and operationally fragile processes in the building. Two staff members were spending the equivalent of full workdays every month just keeping up with reconciliation, bank coordination, and tenant refunds, before anything went wrong.

Then something did go wrong. Check fraud hit the portfolio hard. And the 14-day return deadline New York law imposes on every deposit refund stopped feeling manageable. That's when Hubb NYC started looking for a better way.

The Problem

Security deposit management was consuming the team

⏱

16 hours a month on reconciliation

The senior accountant spent 2-3 full business days each month reconciling the bank's escrow records against the GL, chasing W-9s, and coordinating with the bank via fax.

🏦

A banking relationship that created work, not solved it

Every new tenant required a manual sub-account setup, a faxed W-9, and direct bank coordination. Moving tenants out meant transferring funds between escrow and operating accounts, continuously.

⚠️

Check fraud became uncontrollable

Refunds issued by check were being intercepted. The problem escalated to a point where the team stopped issuing checks entirely, forcing tenants to come in person or accept certified check only.

📅

New York's 14-day deadline under constant pressure

With multiple roommates requiring split refunds, each move-out could mean 3 separate wires for a single unit. The manual process made the 14-day window feel impossible to meet consistently.

👥

Two people dedicated to one process

The team had two staff members whose time was heavily consumed by deposit management. As the portfolio grew, the work scaled linearly with it. There was no ceiling on the overhead.

📋

No audit trail to defend against disputes

When tenants disputed their refunds, the team had no reliable documentation to prove when a check was sent or received. The burden of proof fell on a process that left no paper trail.

What Rentable Did

Replacing the manual layer with an automated one

Instant reconciliation, no bank coordination required

Rentable took over escrow account management entirely. The monthly reconciliation process that consumed 2-3 full days was replaced by downloadable reports from the Rentable dashboard. No more bank calls, no more fax machines, no more W-9 chases.

ACH refunds with a time-stamped audit trail

Every refund, regardless of how many roommates needed splits, was processed through Rentable via ACH. Each transaction generated a timestamped record showing when the tenant gave notice, when the refund was processed, and when funds were received.

Check fraud eliminated

With ACH as the default, check issuance stopped. The fraud exposure that had become unmanageable disappeared alongside the manual check process.

Native Yardi integration, 14-day deadline on autopilot

Rentable integrated directly with Hubb's existing Yardi setup. The 14-day New York deadline is tracked automatically per tenant, eliminating the time crunch that previously put the team under constant pressure.

New property onboarding via a single wire

When Hubb acquires a new property, the previous process meant days of sub-account setup. With Rentable, the conversation is now: pull the report, get the dollar amount, send one wire. That's it.

Outcomes

The results, in their own words and numbers

16 hrs → 20 min

Monthly reconciliation time

What took 2-3 full business days per month now takes a report download.

2 hires avoided

Headcount savings as they scaled

When asked directly, Sun confirmed they would have needed 2 additional staff without Rentable.

Same day

Legal dispute resolved

A tenant arrived with a lawyer claiming they never received their refund. Rentable's audit report closed the case the same day.

$10M+

In escrow, fully managed

The portfolio's escrow funds are held, tracked, and reconciled without manual bank intervention.

14 days

NY deadline, automated

New York's strict refund deadline is tracked automatically per tenant. No manual calendar. No missed windows.

Zero fraud

Check fraud exposure eliminated

ACH replaced checks entirely. The fraud problem that triggered the Rentable search doesn't exist anymore.

"Before, I was thinking about giving another company $10 million of our escrow. Are they legit? Is this going to be okay? Today I'm very confident. That's why I don't mind telling other companies where we were before Rentable and where we are now."

Sun Yi, VP Controller — Hubb NYC

After Rentable

Scaling without scaling the overhead

Hubb NYC closed on two new properties the week of this conversation. Adding 100+ units to a portfolio used to mean days of sub-account setup, bank coordination, and new W-9 processing. Now it means a single wire and a phone call.

The team that once had two people absorbed by deposit management now has those hours back. The compliance risk that kept the VP Controller up at night is automated. And the fraud exposure that forced a complete rethink of their refund process is gone.

For a company that built its identity around doing everything in-house, partnering with Rentable was a significant decision. The verdict is clear: the only thing they gave up was the work they shouldn't have been doing themselves.

69+ properties

across NYC, all managed through Rentable

2 hires avoided

as the portfolio scaled, no new headcount needed for deposit management

100% in-house

everything else stays internal. Rentable handles deposits only

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