Leasify | Devpost

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Inspiration

For many immigrants, international students, and first-time renters, finding housing is one of the most stressful parts of starting a new life. People are often under time pressure, unfamiliar with local rental rules, and trying to read a long contract written in legal English that even native speakers struggle to understand. In that moment, a lease isn’t “just a document.” It can decide whether someone loses their security deposit, gets trapped in expensive fees, or lives in a space where they don’t feel safe. When renters don’t understand what they are signing, the consequences are real: financial instability, anxiety, and housing insecurity. We built Leasify because basic housing clarity should not be a privilege reserved for people who can afford legal help, speak perfect English, or feel confident pushing back. Everyone deserves the dignity of understanding the agreement that controls where they live.

Problem

Renters—especially students, immigrants, and ESL communities—face a system where the stakes are high but the information is hard to access. Leases are long, technical, and written to protect the landlord, not to educate the renter. Many people don’t know what’s “normal” versus what’s risky, and they may feel too intimidated to ask questions. Because legal support is expensive and time is limited, renters often sign quickly and hope for the best. This creates a real human harm: surprise charges, loss of deposits, strict penalties for breaking a lease, unclear responsibilities for repairs, and rules that impact privacy and safety. Housing is a basic human need, so lack of understanding can quickly turn into instability.

Solution

Leasify is a renter-first tool that gives people clarity before they commit. It turns dense lease documents into a plain-language explanation, highlights risky clauses and hidden costs, and helps users ask better questions—so they can protect their finances and feel safer in their housing decisions. Leasify is not a replacement for legal advice; it is an accessibility and empowerment tool that lowers the barrier to understanding a contract that affects someone’s everyday life.

What it does

Leasify helps people protect themselves before they sign by turning dense leases into a plain-language explanation that anyone can understand in a few minutes. Users upload a lease PDF and get a simple summary of the most important terms, especially the ones that affect money and safety. The app highlights red flags that may be risky or costly, highlights green flags that are fair or standard, and points users to the exact clauses so they can verify everything. It also generates practical questions renters can ask a landlord or property manager to clarify unclear terms and avoid being pressured into signing blindly. For accessibility, Leasify can read the summary out loud, helping users who are ESL, overwhelmed, or have difficulty reading long documents. The goal is not to replace legal advice; the goal is to give people clarity, confidence, and a fair chance to make a safe housing decision.

How we built it

We built the frontend with React + Vite + TailwindCSS, and used Excalidraw to design the UI and user flow, including a 3D landing experience to make the product feel welcoming and modern. On the backend, we implemented PDF text extraction and sent the extracted lease text into an AI pipeline that returns structured JSON containing a plain-language summary and clause-level flags supported by direct quotes from the lease. We integrated ElevenLabs to convert summaries into voice output for accessibility, and used Gemini to support translation so ESL and international users can understand the results more easily. We also explored using AMD hardware to accelerate parts of the processing and improve performance.

Challenges we ran into

As freshmen, our biggest challenge was teamwork and workflow: we struggled with Git at the start, and some teammates accidentally cloned the repo twice, worked on the same branch, and created merge conflicts and messy rebases. Because tasks were not always clearly assigned, multiple people sometimes worked on the same feature, which caused confusion and slowed us down. We also had technical problems connecting the frontend to the backend AI pipeline, and parts of the system crashed during integration and testing. Setting up the AMD environment and getting everything to work together within hackathon time was harder than expected, especially when miscommunication happened.

Accomplishments that we’re proud of

We shipped a working end-to-end app under hackathon pressure. We built a polished user experience with a strong visual design, including 3D elements, and we successfully integrated AI plus voice so the output is easier to understand for people with language barriers or reading difficulty. Most importantly, we created something that could realistically help renters avoid signing blindly and reduce stress around housing decisions. We’re proud that our project aims for meaningful impact, not just a technical demo.

What we learned

We learned how to operate like a real team: splitting tasks clearly, keeping updates consistent, communicating early, and resolving merge conflicts without panicking. We improved our Git skills (branching, pull requests, merging, rebasing safely) and learned why clean workflow matters as much as coding. On the technical side, we learned how to connect frontend and backend systems, handle file uploads, structure AI outputs as reliable JSON, and integrate third-party APIs like Gemini and ElevenLabs into a product pipeline. We also learned how to design for non-technical users by keeping the UI simple, readable, and accessible.

What’s next for Leasify

Next, we want to turn Leasify into a real product with stronger privacy and security, including safer file handling, automatic deletion, and clearer user consent. We also want better clause detection across more lease formats and jurisdictions, plus improved multilingual support and more accessible voice options. Features we’d like to add include exporting a clean report, sharing with a roommate or counselor, and building a “question builder” that helps users communicate with landlords more confidently. Long-term, we want to expand beyond housing into other contracts that impact everyday people, like employment agreements and service subscriptions.