Online Letting Agents

What is an Online letting agent?

They’re letting agents that don’t have shop-fronts, they operate purely online. The most reputable (and recommendable) online agents have a fully-dedicated support team which can be easily contacted via phone or email, so you’re not just dealing with a dormant website and automated responses- you actually are dealing with real people with experience in the field.

Online agents will market a landlord’s vacant rental across several (if not hundreds) of the biggest UK property portals. The landlord simply needs pay a small fee, upload their rental property details onto the agent’s website, and they will then Advertise Your Rental On Rightmove and various other property portals. The aim is to generate as many enquiries as possible for the landlord. When a prospective tenants makes an enquiry, the landlord will receive that enquiry and is then expected to arrange a viewing.

It used to be a model which catered best for landlords that wanted to take care of the management side of letting; the online agent’s role was to purely source the leads. However, a lot of online agents have evolved their services by offering a fully-managed package, which includes overseeing rent collection and maintenance issues. Having said that, I would probably only use an online letting agent if I wanted the tenant-only service, and I’ll explain why a bit later on.

So if you’re a landlord looking to find tenants, and willing to manage the property, then I would highly recommend using an online letting agent. It’s a much cheaper option than using a high-street agent.

List of online letting agents

Here’s a list of online letting agents, along with the fixed cost for their “tenant-only” service and the portals they’ll market the vacant property on:

What are the differences between a high-street letting agent and online letting agent?

These days, in terms of services, online letting agents can offer most of the services high-street agents can. However, they differ in the following ways (in my awesome opinion):

Local knowledge – high-street agents operate locally out of their shop-front, while online agents operate nationally (so lack local knowledge of specific areas) from an office. High-street agents pride themselves on local knowledge, and feel they have an extra edge with that useful information. Granted, local knowledge is useful in some ways, but in this internet driven world, the importance of local knowledge is declining by the day. Moreover, most agents generate most of their leads from property portals like Rightmove anyways, and local knowledge isn’t even required for a tenant acquisition sourced by Rightmove.

Shop-front / Face-to-face service – high-street agents can offer a face-to-face service. So, for example, if you get really pissed off with their service, you can storm into their shop and punch your agent square in their stupid-looking face (assuming the intoxicating scent of their Old Spice aftershave doesn’t choke you to death first. Only joking). With an online letting agent, you’re limited to communicating via phone and/or email- assuming you’re not a psychotic maniac and prepared to track down your agent, the biggest threat in your arsenal is a string of harsh words, like, “you’re a cunt, mate!”

Price – high-street agents have massive overheads in comparison to online agents, so they NEED to charge more for their services, and that they do! That’s a fact. Those fabulous multi-coloured Mini Coopers don’t pay for themselves.

Enquiries / Viewings – from what I’m aware, this is the one of the few services that online letting agents don’t/can’t offer, and that’s the whole procedure of enquiry handling and taking viewings. High-street agents will receive all the enquiries and arrange/take the viewings, and show the prospective tenants around the property. When you use an online agent, the enquiries are directly sent to the landlord for him/her to take action upon (e.g. arrange viewings). So if you reduce into a wheezing, nervous, anti-social hermit when you’re around strangers, you’re probably going to need the presence of a physical agent.

Inspections – bringing us onto the second feature online letting agents can’t offer, and that’s inspections of the property. Most high-street agents include a quarterly inspection with their fully-managed service. Inspections are imperative, as they can weed out any distasteful practises shown by the tenants at the early stages of the tenancy. Alas, a lot of agents methods of inspecting has yet to be desired- they may as well have walked in with a blindfold on. On the flip-side, it really isn’t much hassle for a landlord to arrange an inspection- plus, you’d probably be more thorough when inspecting your own property.

The tenant-only package is where it’s at!

Currently, the average price for using an online letting agent to generate enquiries across the biggest property portals is £45. Last time I checked, my local high-street agent wanted to charge me £500 for a tenant-find service. And seriously, they are a bunch of inbred wankers, so I would have begrudged giving them money anyways. I’ve personally saved thousands by using this kind of service from online agents. It’s a no-brainer.

As said, I would only use an online letting agent if I was a landlord that wanted to fully-manage my own property, which would mean I would arrange the viewings, take control of collecting rent and handling any maintenance issues. In the defence of high-street agents, if I wanted to use a third party to manage my property, I would want the peace of mind of knowing that I could strut into an office and discuss any issues face-to-face if I was having real issues with my tenant and/or the agents service, so an online agent wouldn’t cut the mustard. Additionally, I’d like to think that a high-street agent would be prepared to physically engage with the tenant if shit really hit the fan, because often a physical presence of an agent can be fearsome.

Either way, from my experience, even when a problem has occurred with one of my properties/tenants, there’s never been a scenario which has been out of my means to resolve. As long as you’re vigilant when screening a tenant, problems should be minimal. It’s never a case of being unable to resolve a situation, it’s a case of whether you can be bothered to resolve it or not. If you ever run into problems, there are plenty of resources online to help you, websites like LandlordZone are brilliant for problem-solving. I would say you could always contact me directly for advice, but i’d be lying- but by all means, make use of my landlord forum, because there are some really cool and knowledgeable folks creeping around in there. If you can’t be bothered with the whole problem solving aspect, use a high-street agent and snap up their fully-managed package. If you slip them a fiver, they’ll probably wipe your arse for you as well.

Ignore the cynics. Online letting agents are awesome

I read an amusing article last week over at ‘Estate Agent Today’ about angry high-street letting agents bitching about online letting agents.

How ridiculous, right? Right.

Essentially, you have a bunch of high-street letting agents complaining that Online Letting Agents (e.g. Upad and LettingAproperty) shouldn’t be able to advertise their properties on Rightmove. I don’t really understand the argument. I’m not even sure there is a problem, beyond the fact that high-street letting agents aren’t able to compete with the low prices online letting agents are charging. But that’s tough shit. They should either change their business model so they can compete; focus on building their “fully-managed” package….or roll over and die.

The consumer (landlord) should be able to choose whether they want the service of a virtual or physical letting agent. Despite common misconception, neither service is better than the other and they shouldn’t be compared, because they’re different services all together, designed for different types of landlords.

So, comments like this, “Some landlords will always be prepared to cut corners and avoid paying a good letting agent. In my experience, many live to regret it” are the remarks muttered by a petulant child. If I don’t need the extras that come with a high-street agent, why the hell should I bloody pay for one? It’s genuinely not a case of “cutting corners”, it’s a case of assessing my needs, and choosing a service based on them. Go figure.

You can ALWAYS use both an online agent and high-street agent

When people talk about online agents and high-street agents, I always get the impression they think it’s an either/or situation. That’s definitely not the case. Actually, I’ve probably given that impression myself. For anyone that’s reluctant about using an online agent, but wants to give it a whirl by ditching a high-street agent and their fees, I would recommend doing the following…

Use an online letting agent- invest £45 into their service, and see if you can bag yourself a tenant. At the same time, use a high-street agent to find tenants. May the best method win. Most agents don’t charge unless you actually USE the tenant they sourced (but double check that with your agent). If the high-street agent sources the tenant, then the worst case scenario is that you invested an extra £45, which in the grand schemes of things, isn’t a big loss. If not, you saved yourself a few hundred quid- go buy yourself a bag of weed, and get high as maaafucker!

But let me expand on how you can still use both online and high-street agents together. If you manage to find a tenant through an online agent, and take on the fully-managed role, but then realise taking on the responsibility isn’t suited to your lifestyle, then you can easily just approach an agent to take over the management. It really isn’t a case of either/or.

On that note, I hope everyone had a good Christmas. I’ll see you in the New year. Have a good one :) xxx

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10 Comments - join the conversation...

Benji2011-12-29 18:46:06 At last! An article that made me laugh.
Your holiday in Thailand obviously did you some good.
Not sure about the xxx at the end though (maybe stay away from the ladyboys in future). 1

Jeremy2011-12-29 20:28:12 Hello Landlord,

I realy liked this article. Nice piece of balanced analysis. As you say, each model will suit a different kind of landlord. Couple of thoughts:

One is that I know of a national chain of lettings agents who'll offer under £250 + 5% of Rent to market; conduct viewings; do invetory; reference tenants; collect rent and issue Section 20 notices. The other aspects, like regular inspections and maintenance is up to the landlord. A good hybrid product which utilises their local footprint but is a lot lower than the £500 you mention. And may suit a third "kind" of landlord.

Two is that I do feel sympathy for high street agents'. They have two significant cost disadvantages compared to Internet/Office based agents that they just can't escape: Business Rates and their own Retail Landlords. Many Councils are still milking business rates on high street retail like it's in no financial trouble at all. And Retail landlords are stubbonly refusing to cut rents. These internet based companies will probably be located in an Enterprise Zone (i.e. no Business Rates)if they have any sense and because Enterprise Zones tend to be in economically depressed areas, the rent is very low per square foot compared to a high street. If a magic wand could be waved to equalise the rent and rates per square foot of the two business models, we might find a significant closing of the gap in the value-offering between these two business models. 2

The Landlord2011-12-30 10:44:28 @Benji,

Come on, Benji, don't be like that, it's the season to be jolly/slutty. Embrace my love, for once, you MIGHT like it xxx

I'm glad you approve.

@Jeremy
Hi there,

That package sounds pretty good. I've never been offered (or seen, for that matter) anything like that before. Besides from the tenant-find service- rent collection, viewings and the inventory are definitely useful.

I get what you're saying regarding the sympathy of high-street agents in terms of their costs. But I don't believe that equalising the rent and rates per square foot would tighten the gap by much. High-street agents would still have a lot more overheads. More significantly, online agents can target the entire country from ONE location without any extra costs, high-street agents will never be able to do that without opening new branchs. 3

Mr X2011-12-30 11:49:00 Nice 1 landlord. I have just about started the process of finding a tenant so this article couldn't have come at a better time.

I'm using an agent for a tenant find service only, and the links you have provided above are definitely worth consideration.

Jeremy that deal sounds pretty decent, is it poss to say who this agent is?


Also, quick question guys...

i had an evaluation with a letting agent yesterday, told him I want tenant find only. He said this will be 10% per annum and kept trying to sell me full management.

Expected rent is £1100/month so his tenant find fee would be £1320 which includes all the usual credit/reference checks, registering deposit, etc but not inventory and check in. However, he said if he manages it, he will reduce the tenant find fee to 2 weeks rent (£550) and charge me 10% per month, which would annually work out to be £1870. Or a 6 month tenancy would be £1210 WHICH IS ACTUALLY CHEAPER THAN TENANT FIND SERVICE ONLY!!!

Now does that sound like an average agent fee? £1320 for finding a tenant and doing checks, references, deposit etc?

...or is this agent a bit bonkers? 4

NS12011-12-30 22:58:56 Mr x. Your Agent is crazy!

My local ones offer:

Fully managed £100-£150 tenant find then 10-12% per month.
Tenant find only £450-£500, including tenancy, inventory and collection of first months rent and deposit. 5

Jeremy2011-12-30 23:25:42 Hi Mr X,

I guess he is either:
- bonkers
or
- trying to sell you what he wants to supply you, rather than listening to what you really want. I'd guess the tenant only fee at 10% is what (I recall) marketing type people call the "creating baseline value" price. It's like the full price is £19.99 but it's in the sale for £9.99 idea. Too many plonkers buy the goods because they think they've saved £10 rather than stand back and say "lets ignore the hype - it is really worth a tenner?".
So once he thinks he's created a baseline, he's ofering lots more value for almost no extra price, hoping he'll upsell you to full management.

Buy simply by asking if he's bonkers, you may have already cut through his tactic.

Before I tell you who it it, just a quick caveat, please: I normally use only top auality local tradesmen who stand or fall by word of mouth recomendation, but these folks are a national firm where each local branch is a franchise. So I've got no idea how they guarantee quality (or even if their Head Office try). My local branch are OK. Not great, or rubbish. But OK.

It's Northwood. 6

Jeremy2011-12-30 23:35:01 Hello Landlord,

At the risk of boring the pants off everyone else here: What extra overheads do you think local branches have over one central office? Yes, I agree local offices have to have, by definition, a local branch network. But large call centres or Head Office type environments tend to have overheads of their own, just because they are a large collection of people, e.g. departments for HR, Health and Safety, Marketing, Risk, Legal, Compliance, IT, Finance, etc. It is hard / impossible for a compay to avoid employing these specialists as they get bigger. A little firm with just a few people can easily "get by".

And a genuinely small firm will be small enough to avoid VAT registration, which takes 20% off their costs just like that.

Just a thought.. 7

Mr X2011-12-31 00:08:47 Thanks for confirming chaps. It is now clear the agent was a nutjob

NS1 - Those are the type of fees I'm after ;)

Jeremy - spot on about those dodgy salesmen thinking they're doing you a favour. He did the typical "now its normally 12% (shows me company paperwork showing 12%) but for you I'm gona do it for 10% (crosses 12% and writes 10%) - what the fuh, why for me? lol its funny how these people actually think they're the dogs bullocks when it comes to sales.

He did chat a lot of waffle and i just wanted him out the door, its only when he left, i had a proper look at the fees and thought "hang about..."

Thanks for revealing the agent, no local Northwood near me, but its ok coz I've actually decided to go with Upad's full tenant find service for £299. This seems very attractive and have heard a lot of good things about them. I accompany the tenants to viewings and do my own inventory, but can't complain for £299 8

Bah2012-01-03 16:24:05 Very informative post.

I learned a painful and expensive lesson about how useless high-street letting agents can be. As we were busy moving out of the house that we were letting, and didn't have much free time, we thought that using a high-street agent would make life easier for us. How wrong we were.

After contacting about 6 local agents to come by and value the place (I came up with the same number myself looking on Rightmove), the best deal I could get was 7% tenant find (they also have the balls to ask for at least 4%, then 3%, 2%, etc. for tenant renewals). So in some areas (London) there is not much competition if you are looking for a local agent. I'm not really sure if there is price fixing going on or what.

I did speak to Discount Lettings (why such cheesy company names?) and they have a Let Only service for about £500 which uses agents from a branch of ReMax to do the tenant filtering and viewings. What turned me off Discount Lettings (other than the name), was that their picture upload tool posted crappy small images to Rightmove which doesn't look that professional.

So in the end I called the full-service agent but I took my own pictures of the house (for future lettings) and got the gas/electric/EPC inspections myself.

The first day of viewings comes, and Mr. Dull Agent goes around telling the prospective clients genius things like "this is a bedroom" and answers most of their questions with "I don't know". So my wife essentially kicks the agent out and does the next set of viewings herself. The second tenants make an offer for full asking price.

The next two months were spent chasing the agents to get their finger out and get the contract written. The tenants were also completely pissed off at the agents as well for never answering the phone. Fortunately we exchanged numbers and email on the viewing day (didn't trust the agents) so communicated directly with them. In the end we had to make multiple corrections to the contract (provided last minute of course), and got the keys to the tenants on their move-in day as the agents couldn't find the copies.

The agents were pretty quick to contact us though for the balance of payment which came to nearly £2000 for them doing f*ck all and antagonizing the tenants.

The next time we will use a service like Upad and arrange for an "Open House" weekend where we can take viewings on a Saturday and Sunday, screen the tenants, and then make our selections (after financial checks pass).

The only problem I see is if we leave the country and have to resort to using a full-service agent again unless we can find an independent agent to manage the property and find tenants for us.

The uncertainty I have about Rightmove is how many prospective tenants, especially the ones in our local demographic, bother setting up Rightmove alerts rather than registering at a local lettings agency. I guess they would if they were smart as I know that local agents will jerk around prospective tenants by holding back some properties, and other such tricks. 9

Beth Gaynor2012-02-21 14:59:09 Yep, I have been contacting estate agents and there prices all seem to be in the thousands. I don't have the money for that especially since I am downsizing! I am moving with my family from London to, hopefully, Bristol. Living in the city has crushed our finances and we just can't afford it anymore, even though I am going to miss the buzz of the city. But it is time to settle down!

But, anyway, I have been doing some research and found out about online estate agents. I felt so old fashioned when I found out that that online agents exist, but I suppose everything is turning online now. I found this blog and article and it has been really helpful. I found some other online agents that looked good, one called eMoov, but I am still in the research process so I can't be sure which one I will choose.

Has anyone else heard of them, or do they know if they are credible? They are in my price range, but I am sceptical of anything new nowadays.

Thank you! 10

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