Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to speak at the National Police Estates Group Conference about a subject that seems to be on everyone’s radar: artificial intelligence. The headlines keep coming, the tech keeps advancing, and the expectations keep rising. But in the world of real estate, the big question is still this: what should we do with AI?
The answer isn’t simple. But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming, either.
Why AI matters, and why it’s still messy
According to Remit Consulting’s 2025 AI in Real Estate Survey, 44% of property firms believe AI will be critical to their success in the next year. But only 9% say they’ve fully integrated it. Most are still experimenting, often without a clear structure or policy. In short, there’s a lot of interest, but not much clarity.
That’s understandable. AI is a fast-moving field. But the key is to stay focused on where it can actually help your business, not just where it makes the most noise.
Start with the boring stuff
In our AI workshops, we talk about four types of use cases: the boring, the difficult, the creative, and the repetitive. And it’s the boring stuff that often delivers the biggest early wins.
Lease abstraction. Document summaries. Contract reviews. Tidying up data. Transcribing meetings. These aren’t glamorous tasks, but they’re time-consuming and essential. AI tools can help you move faster and more accurately, freeing your team to focus on the things that need a human eye.
Prompting and practicalities
One of the most useful exercises in our sessions is learning how to give AI the right instructions. A simple example? Writing an email to a tenant about upcoming works. The more clearly you tell the AI who you are, who you're talking to, and what you need it to do, the better the results.
In the workshop, we even showed a version written in Cockney rhyming slang. It got a few laughs, but it made a serious point: these tools are flexible. They can sound formal, friendly, casual or confident. What matters is how you guide them.
Mind the gaps
The biggest challenges aren’t technical. They’re organisational. Our survey showed that most firms don’t have clear policies for AI use. Few have thought through ethics, data privacy, or who’s accountable for what the tools produce.
There’s also resistance to change. That’s natural. But if you don’t start shaping how AI fits into your workflows now, you’ll be on the back foot when others do.
Where to start with AI in property?
You don’t need to overhaul everything, but you do need to set some ground rules.
First, protect sensitive information. Staff should not be using free or public AI tools to process confidential, financial or company data. It’s essential to put clear boundaries in place around what can and can’t be shared.
Second, capture what’s working. Build a prompt library. Ask your team to record how they’re using AI, what it produces, and what the outcomes are. This isn’t just about transparency, it’s how you learn what’s genuinely adding value.
And thirdly, be honest about the risks. AI will change jobs. Some roles will shift; others may shrink. That’s a hard conversation, but it needs to be had. People should be asking themselves: What am I adding here that a tool can’t replicate? And how can I build on that?
A final thought
There’s understandable concern about what AI might mean for jobs. But in most cases, especially in asset and estate management, it’s about augmenting the work, not replacing it.
It gives people time back. It takes the edge off repetitive tasks. And when used well, it can highlight the value of human judgement, experience and insight.
At Remit Consulting, we’re already helping organisations navigate this shift through tailored AI workshops and practical advice. If your team is curious about where to begin or how to make more of the tools you’re already using, we’d be happy to help.
Contact us to find out more about our AI workshops for real estate professionals.