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Cut-price landlords service extends listings to Zoopla portals

Thursday 16th August 2012

Online lettings business OpenRent is to expand its landlord service to include listing on Zoopla, FindAProperty and Primelocation as well as Rightmove – while at the same time offering free listings to all new customers.

The service was launched earlier this year by a team of landlords and internet specialists under the slogan ‘You do the viewings, we do everything else’.

The proposition includes advertising a landlord’s property on popular portals, running reference and background checks on potential tenants, and taking care of legal issues like tenancy deposits and contracts.  

While the site has offered Rightmove listing from day one, the addition of Zoopla, FindaProperty and Primelocation means it can now claim near comprehensive coverage of searches for rental property.

Co-founder Adam Hyslop said: “It’s been an exciting first few months for OpenRent.  We’ve helped hundreds of landlords find tenants and fielded thousands of tenant enquiries on their behalf – but in between all of this we’ve found time to speak to our customers.

“The most popular request was that although Rightmove is the UK’s number one property portal, many landlords would like to be listed on the other major sites too.

“We also know that not all of our competitors aspire to the levels of customer service that we do, so we’re giving new customers the chance to use us once for free.  

“Existing customers also now get an additional free listing for every new landlord they send our way.”

The service charges landlords just £20 for a tenant-find service, reference checks and processing the contract.


Added by Hawkeye on 2012-08-18 11:08:38

Amazing - they let just about everything to DSS. Found one exception (there may be others) but the rent was over £8k per month.

Twenty quid my aunt fanny. Who are they kidding, bunch of wasters? I make @S L (Now) spot on with his comments as I could not have put it better myself.
Added by Sensible Landlord (Now) on 2012-08-17 12:51:55

What's that old adage - if it looks like a turd, smells like a turd, feels like a turd then it probably is a turd. Personally just looking is enough for me.

I've learned by bitter experience over the years that with lettings (as in life) if you buy cheap, you buy twice.

But hey ho, there'll always be enough landlords out there who'll be seduced by the £20 to provide these boys with a living. More fool the property portals for allowing them!
Added by Ian on 2012-08-16 16:50:23

The above postings about:

“£20!! Yeah cant be right. Its just not sustainable at that rate“

Reminds me of what people were saying about amazon when it first started…
Added by John on 2012-08-16 16:36:12

I think it's pretty obvious they're keeping their prices low in order to gain momentum. The business model is built around having huge numbers.

Once they have the desired number of landlords, word of mouth recommendations and press they'll put their prices up. They seem to be operating on a London area for rightmove rather than nationally like upad and the other major online letting agents. Once they switch onto this (or get switched onto it by rightmove) they'll soon see their prices are not feasible for the long term.
Added by hmm.... on 2012-08-16 15:07:39

£20!! Yeah cant be right. Its just not sustainable at that rate

They'll soon realise that and their prices will shoot up. Right up....
Added by SteveFromLeicester on 2012-08-16 09:26:46

Surely that's a typo at the end? They aren't really doing it for twenty quid are they?

Even allowing for the fact that this will presumably be an up-front fee payable whether the property is let or not, and that one of a typical agent's biggest overheads (staff time spent carrying out accompanied viewings) has been removed from the business model I really can't imagine how enough profit will be generated to make it worthwhile for "a team of landlords and internet specialists".
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Editorial Contact Details - Rosalind Renshaw
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