Up-front rental payment system being rolled out across the UK

The Advanced Rent Option, which allows licensed lettings agents to offer their landlords a year’s rent upfront as part of their full management service, is being rolled out nationally after a two year pilot. 

The people behind ARO describe it as a game changer for the lettings industry because of the security and peace of mind it provides.

Allowing agents to advertise and deliver a year’s rent upfront to their landlords, the ARO is a simple concept that the creators say has proven to be one of the most powerful landlord prospecting and lead generation tools available.

Licenses are available on application and will be limited to one per cent of the industry. 

Preference will be given to small-medium independent market leaders and a local exclusivity option is available for the right businesses.   

ARO founder Simon Shinerock says: “This project has been two years in the pilot stage and it has proven to bring huge benefits to the lettings market, offering peace of mind to landlords, as well as an invaluable marketing and prospecting edge for selected agents. 

“The response since launch has been beyond our expectations and we have been able to demonstrate that ARO is the holy grail of landlord prospecting and lead generation, attracting more landlord enquiries at a lower cost than any other form of marketing. 

“Now agents across the UK can stand out from the crowd by offering landlords something that no one else can. ARO is available for reliable, proactive and go-ahead agents, who understand the value of the ARO and how to use it to fast forward their businesses and grow their managed portfolios.

“We are looking forward to working with our ARO licensed agents to offer landlords a better, more secure and versatile service.”

Sanjay Gandhi, a director of Moss Property in Doncaster, uses the system and says: “I wanted to look at ways to generate new landlords and thought that ARO would be the perfect product to do that. We have competitors in the town who offer a rent guarantee, but the difference with that product is they take a 35 per cent cut and don’t really offer market value.

“Since launching ARO a few months ago, we’ve grown our portfolio by around three to four per cent. I’ve got to highlight that it’s not for everyone. I’ve had many landlords who’ve said they like the idea, but are happy to have the rent monthly and go on our standard service. But we would not have been able to speak to that landlord if we didn’t ARO in the first place.

“It’s been a great new business generator and has helped to bring more landlords into our standard service, as they know that with us, they can switch over to an ARO licence, should they decide they want it at a later date.”

ARO says agents will be offered either a local exclusive, or non-exclusive ARO licence and will be invited to express their preferences during the application process. 

ARO is not being made available to every agent, and in order to qualify applicant agents will need to demonstrate “compliance with all industry regulations, high levels of professionalism and have a real passion to grow their business and add value to the ARO brand.”