UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi All,

Am new here after my local (tenant-find only) agent decided to pass all costs to the landlord after the recent Tenant Fee Ban legislation.  The resulting tenant-find cost has at least tripled - a situation which makes the agents position untenable (pardon the pun).  Am guessing that this subject has been covered ad infinitum but cannot readily find the appropriate responses so my apologies if am repeating this question.

So - The (hilariously cynical, sorry - righteously cautious) Landlord seems to identify two primary online options - OpenRent & 99Home - as am looking for tenant-find only with referencing, deposit registration & tenancy sign-up.  I registered with OpenRent but noticed they *appear* to require some sort of deposit from prospective tenants before the tenants can even book a viewing ! This does not seem attractive from a tenants point of view (I have been one) & am wondering whether there is either a page here somewhere that compares online agencies or whether this question might prompt one.

Any & all relevant help on this subject would be greatly appreciated as it will also assist with my declination of the local agents outstandingly kind offer to discount their charges to me from £1.8k to £1.5k for existing customers !!
Am pretty certain 'untenable' is the right word, preposterous & ridiculous are others ..
Thanking you in advance ...

Quote from: Josh 21 on April 02, 2021, 02:31:58 PM
I registered with OpenRent but noticed they *appear* to require some sort of deposit from prospective tenants before the tenants can even book a viewing!

I've used OpenRent and this is not the case.

I think you may have misread the OpenRent information.

If you give a link to the page that led you to think this was so, we can correct your understanding.

I was scanning & misread the last line below.  How was your experience with OpenRent?
https://www.openrent.co.uk/find-property-to-rent-from-private-landlords
"Click Rent Now to Reserve the Property
If the viewing has gone well, press Rent Now to reserve the property. You'll pay a refundable holding deposit of one week's rent to us - not the landlord. If the tenancy goes ahead, the holding deposit will go towards your first month's rent.

"

Thank you Handyman.  My primary concern with regard to online agents is the thoroughness of their referencing process & would welcome any comment in that & general regard.

Update:
An inexhaustive Google search using the terms: "Compare online letting agents" yielded one useful link on the first results page:
https://nolettinggo.co.uk/blog/best-online-letting-agents/ (apologies Landlord if a similar list is on your blog).
The above alphabetically lists 22 agents incliding OpenRent but not 99Home & there is no comparison between them. Neither was a comparison site readily presented by the original Google search.
A simple question to the Landord would be - Are you able & prepared to let us know which online agent you use?

Quote from: Josh 21 on April 04, 2021, 09:02:53 AM
My primary concern with regard to online agents is the thoroughness of their referencing process & would welcome any comment in that & general regard.

OpenRent use an independent referencing company. I expect that the other online services do so as well.

To help you decide whether it's thorough enough, I've uploaded a referencing report (with identifying information removed):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t8vIHN6qGfDhMWPIBVWMNJ3BUmUeaWCL/view?usp=sharing

This report was based on waiting the couple of extra days to get the Comprehensive report (same price as 'Speedy') as described here:
https://www.openrent.co.uk/tenant-referencing

This may be useful to you as well:
https://blog.openrent.co.uk/how-to-read-a-tenant-referencing-report-to-find-reliable-tenants/

I can't speak from experience about other online services but OpenRent worked very well for me.

Quote from: Josh 21 on April 04, 2021, 09:35:03 AMA simple question to the Landord would be - Are you able & prepared to let us know which online agent you use?

Gee, you're an extreme over-thinker, aren't you? Just plump for one and see if it works out. I, myself, have used uPad many times... that's not a recommendation, simply a fact. Why would whatever online Agent someone else you've never met use influence you? Either do more research or stick with what you've done and jump... at the end of the day what's going to happen? It goes on the portals and you get leads... I don't think anyone here is going to indemnify you for your choice. You're on your own, really.

Yes, uPad does still exist... all my saved properties were still there in my management console when they rose like a phoenix.

Handyman & Hippogriff - Thank you both very much - enormously helpful. Over-thinking is a known trait (somewhere between thorough & pedantic perhaps) but looking before leaping can't hurt & someone who's experienced more of them than I (zero so far) is gonna inevitably have a better comparative idea. Substandard-tenant-indemnification - there's a thought lol - Lloyds will insure anything at a price.

Thank again both, much appreciated

The point I think I was trying to make is... I have experience of one. Yes, one is more than zero... one more... but it doesn't allow comparison. I think most Landlords will be in a similar situation. You're looking for someone who's tried many more than one. And it feels, to me - having been here a while, that this is rare. So - jump, good luck and let us know if you come a cropper... or it's a raving success. Thanks.

Thanks Hippogriff, understood & will do, will be going with OpenRent in the first instance ...

Well, a year late but Open Rent are great for advertising, referencing & tenancy agreement, rubbish for tenant-initiated holding deposits & deposit registration, still sending me round in circles on the latter & yet to find out whether 1st months rent appears intact & on time. Total cost £49 & 4 x £20 (refs) = £129 so far so that's a plus. Their website contains conflicting information though & customer serviceis is not great.

Quote from: Josh 21 on April 16, 2022, 04:57:22 PM
Well, a year late but Open Rent are great for advertising, referencing & tenancy agreement, rubbish for tenant-initiated holding deposits & deposit registration, still sending me round in circles on the latter & yet to find out whether 1st months rent appears intact & on time.

Out of interest, what problem are you having with the holding deposit, and the registration of the actual deposit? I've never had a problem with this so far, so I'm keen to hear what is going wrong for you.

I've had no problem with them passing on the 1st months rent either. They hold on to it for 2 weeks before transferring it to the landlord - but this is for the tenant's protection because it allows them to move into the property, thus establishing it does actually exist and the tenant is not being scammed.

NB. I always decline OpenRent's rent collection & transfer service, which costs £10/month after the first month. It's as easy to inform your tenant that they should transfer the rent for the 2nd and subsequent months directly to you.