Over half of letting agents responding a survey say they have no intention of ever using Artificial Intelligence.

A small survey of letting agents – just 132 – has been conducted for industry supplier Inventory Base.

Just 12% of lettings agents have adopted AI “extensively”, while 15% are using it “to some extent”. And whilst 21% are considering AI but haven’t yet implemented it, the majority – 53% – are not using AI and have no intention to ever do so.

Where AI is in use, it’s primarily focused on marketing and lead generation (44%), followed by tenant screening (17%), automated messaging or chatbots (17%), and to a lesser extent, maintenance handling (11%) and compliance checks (11%).

However, 72% of respondents cited the “loss of human touch in tenant relationships” as their greatest concern, far outweighing worries about data privacy (11%), system accuracy (11%), or job displacement (6%).  

When asked about AI’s impact on tenant relationships, just 18% believed it improved them, while 36% felt it actively undermined the landlord-tenant dynamic – either slightly (18%) or significantly (18%), although nearly half (47%) said it had no impact either way.

Some 76% of letting agents said they had received no formal training or guidance on how to use AI responsibly and in compliance with lettings legislation.

Only 6% had received comprehensive training, while a further 6% had some limited guidance. This lack of education may help explain the reluctance to engage with the technology, especially when combined with doubts about legal compliance – 27% of agents admitted they weren’t confident their existing tools met industry standards.