OpenRent Review – An Absolute Bargain Or Cheap Garbage?

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OpenRent Review

You’ve probably recently stumbled upon OpenRent – the online letting agent that sounds way too cheap to be anything other than a knock-off operation that’s glued together with gum.

So now you’re fumbling around the internet, doing your due diligence, trying to work out how it all works, and whether OpenRent really can help landlords effectively find tenants for peanuts, or whether it’s all just a scam.

You’ve come to the right place.

But first, before getting into the meat and potatoes (in case you’re here just for a discount code/promotional offer)…

Table of contents

OpenRent service overview

To ensure we’re all on the same page, here’s a brief overview of OpenRent’s letting services…

  • OpenRent is a super cost-effective online letting agent – their tenant-find services start from as little as £39.
  • OpenRent was launched in 2012
  • Their core service is helping landlords get their rental properties listed on Rightmove & Zoopla (to help generate enquires from prospective tenants)
  • They are currently the most popular online letting agent, with over 3000 Rightmove listings (at the time of writing this overview)
  • They have accumulated over 1,700 reviews on their public Google profile, with the vast majority being extremely positive

OpenRent Tenant-find packages

Letting AgentRatingTermIncludes / NotesPrice
Rating
4.9
Google Reviews
Duration
5 days / 3 months*
Includes / Notes

Ultimate Advertising package
  • Key features
  • Rightmove listing
  • Zoopla listing

*5 days free, and then the option of continuing service for 3 months for £39 for new customers and £49 for returning customers!

Price

Free Trial

*FREENo hidden fees, no credit card details required!

Visit Website
Rating
4.9
Google Reviews
Duration
3 months
Includes / Notes

Advertising + Rent Now package
  • Key features
  • Rightmove listing
  • Zoopla listing
  • Deposit registration
  • Tenancy sign-up service
  • First month's rent collection
Price£69 Inc VAT Visit Website

Is OpenRent a scam? Is OpenRent safe to use? Is there a catch?

To start off, I’m going to address one of the most common questions I get asked about OpenRent.

The purpose of this blog post is to provide clarity to ease the minds of landlords that find themselves grossly suspicious of OpenRent’s service, which claims to provide a tenant-find service that includes a Rightmove and Zoopla listing, for a puny £49 (£39 for new customers). A fee that looks like a total freak of nature, not only when compared to our local high-street agents, but also other competing online letting agents.

Then, when you throw in the fact that OpenRent are currently offering a no strings attached, 5 day free trial for their tenant-find service (yes, FREE-FREE), the alarm bells are likely going berserko.

I’ve personally used OpenRent to find tenants several times during the last decade, so let me give you the lowdown.

Is OpenRent a scam? The short and only correct answer: NO!

OpenRent is absolutely legit – they’re the real deal. They are a member of the Property Ombudsman, which means they commit to TPO Codes of Practice, and it enables their customers to escalate any complaints directly with the Property Ombudsman if they receive an unsatisfactory service.

Is the free trial actually “free”… no strings attached… no dodgy small-print… no credit card details required? Yup, that’s correct.

So I could end up marketing my property on the biggest property portals in the UK (e.g. Rightmove, Zoopla and Gumtree etc.) and consequently find tenants without spending a penny, all through OpenRent’s free trial offer? Exactly.

Long story short, OpenRent’s letting services for landlords is an absolute bargain!

I can’t really be clearer; OpenRent’s free trial and cheap-as-peanuts service is genuinely legit. If you take advantage of their free trial (you have no reason not to if you plan on using their service), then there are no obligations to continue using their service after the trial expires, but if you wish to continue, you can pay a very reasonable £49 (£39 for new customers) to extend the service for a further 3 months.

So if that’s what you wanted to hear, then go ahead…

Try OpenRent for Free (exclusive deal)

There’s nothing to fear.

My experience with using OpenRent (did I find tenants for free?)

I most recently used OpenRent earlier this year, and of course, I took full advantage of their free trial. I’m certainly not too proud to grab a free meal, spank you very much.

Within no time at all I had submitted my property details via their intuitive dashboard and had my property listed on both Rightmove and Zoopla. I did NOT have to enter any credit card details.

Within a couple of days I had received a dozen or so enquiries in the form of emails and voice-messages, which was amazing (but not surprising to be honest, I’ve had similar results before).

In theory, I could have most likely found tenants for free during the 5 day trial period. However, I happily ended up paying the £49 for an extra 3 months service, because…

I like to give all suitable applicants the opportunity to view the property, so that way I have a greater pool of tenants to choose from.

The viewings spanned over a week, which meant I wouldn’t get to meet everyone during the trial period, and my golden rule is to never stop the hunt until contracts have been signed and a deposit has been received (I would NEVER recommend putting the brakes on marketing until tenants have been absolutely confirmed, simply because deals breaking and situations changing is overwhelmingly common).

I suspect that while many landlords do find tenants during the 5 day trial, I think many also end up paying the £49 upgrade (or £39 if they’re a new customer) fee to keep their property listed on Rightmove & Zoopla; it’s unlikely most landlords will receive enquiries, take viewings and sign contracts within 5 days!

To be fair, I think the trial is there just to give the sceptics a taster of what to expect, and prove that the system works.

In conclusion, I used OpenRent’s free trial and received a buttload of enquiries, but I still paid £49 to extend their service because I wanted to continue receiving enquiries until a contract was signed. I actually did end up signing an awesome tenant that applied during the trial period, but it took approx. 2 weeks to complete due diligence and get contracts signed.

All for £49.

Total bargain.

I’ve been using online letting agents (including OpenRent) for over a decade now, and I honestly can’t ever imagine myself going back to using a high-street agent again. In my mind, that would be taking 20 steps backwards.

I must have saved several thousands of pounds by making the switch. Yes, using an online lettings service like OpenRent does mean I have to do more leg-work (i.e. schedule and conduct viewings), but the savings make it worthwhile, but furthermore, I’ve always been a strong believer in landlords conducting their own viewings, because to be frank, I think it results in a more rigorous screening process that produces better quality tenants.

Step by step guide to using OpenRent (from registering to finding tenants)

  1. Choose your tenant-find package – choose between OpenRent’s Ultimate Advertising (includes 5 day free trial) and Rent Now package (I compare both packages below to help you decide)
  2. Create your listing – this includes adding the property description, photos, a floor plan, and a copy of the EPC.
  3. Provide proof of ownership – as per Rightmove’s terms and conditions, you will need to upload proof of ownership (e.g. Register of Title, landlord Insurance policy etc) if you wish to have your property listed on their portal. This is to help prevent fraud.
  4. Pre-screening/filtering applicants – not only during my most recent experience using OpenRent, but also previous times, I found myself inundated with enquiries, many of which were either of frustratingly poor quality (time-wasters, basically) or from unsuitable applicants. Consequently, I found myself wasting a lot of time separating the wheat from the chaff.

    OpenRent pushes their stock onto Gumtree, so I suspect many of the poor quality enquiries stem from there (Gumtree is notorious for generating less than desirable applications, although a great platform for lead generation, no doubt).

    Fortunately, OpenRent provides pre-screening tools which help with qualifying applicants and ultimately filtering out a lot of the unsuitable applicants. I definitely recommend taking advantage of the pre-screening tools by enabling them.

    • Pre-screening feature: if this is enabled, it forces applicants to answer a series of questions based on the exclusions you set when you created your advert. For example, tenants with pets or DSS tenants. OpenRent we will check they meet your criteria before allowing tenants to request a viewing of the property.
    • Auto-reply feature: if this is enabled, an auto reply email will be sent to anyone when they request a viewing.

      You can set what is in the email, such as the times available for viewings and you can also ask your own specific questions to applicants, to assist with the filtering process. For example:

      • What is your current living situation, are you renting?
      • Why are you looking to move?
      • Can you provide a guarantor?
      • Do you have any CCJs and if so, please provide details.
      • What is your occupation and the occupation of any adults who would be living there?
      • How long do you plan on living in the property?
  5. Communication & viewing scheduling – all communication and scheduling can done through OpenRent’s dashboard, which is great and very intuitive to use.
  6. Tenant referencing – once you have confidently decided on a tenant(s), you can use OpenRent’s referencing service to run background checks and verify your tenants. I can’t overstate how important it is to thoroughly reference tenants.
  7. Sign contract / tenancy agreement – once the tenants have passed the referencing stage (with flying colours), OpenRent sends a draft copy of the tenancy agreement for approval. Once approved, both landlord and tenant can digitally sign contracts.
  8. Upload landlord documents – to help with compliance, OpenRent will require you to upload documents to the OpenRent dashboard that need to be served on tenants:

    If you don’t have any of these documents, I recommend acquiring them before listing your property. They’re available for purchase directly from OpenRent, or you can source your own. You can visit my Landlord Shop for a bunch of recommended suppliers (I often have exclusive discounts and rates available).

    Once the documents are uploaded, they’ll be served on the tenants and recorded (which can prove to be crucial to prove compliance).

Which OpenRent Tenant-Find package should I choose?

If you visit OpenRent’s product page you’ll be presented with three “tenant-find” packages to choose from.

OpenRent’s free trial package is only available by using this exclusive promo link (or any of the other links to OpenRent in this blog post), you won’t find it if you go directly to OpenRent’s website and navigate to the product pages.

5 days free, and then the option of continuing service for 3 months for £39 for new customers, and £49 for returning customers!

OpenRent Tenant Find Packages

PACKAGE 1: ‘OpenRent Only’ – IGNORE IT!

I would personally stay well clear of the “FREE” package, as enticing as it seems.

The free package will get your property marketed on only their own website (i.e. that package will not get your property listed on Rightmove or Zoopla). Quite frankly, it’s garbage. Sorry, OpenRent!

I’ve already emphasised the epic importance of marketing vacant BTL properties on Rightmove– and there is no substitute for it.

If you want the best chance of filling your vacant BTL property and finding tenants quickly, then get your property on Rightmove. That’s it.

PACKAGE 2: ‘Ultimate Advertising’ – 5 day FREE Trial

This is the package I get quizzed about the most, because it’s available with a free trial that includes those precious Rightmove & Zoopla listings, which mean it’s entirely possible to find tenants for absolutely free.

Letting AgentRatingTermIncludes / NotesPrice
Rating
4.9
Google Reviews
Duration
5 days / 3 months*
Includes / Notes

Ultimate Advertising package
  • Key features
  • Rightmove listing
  • Zoopla listing

*5 days free, and then the option of continuing service for 3 months for £39 for new customers and £49 for returning customers!

Price

Free Trial

*FREENo hidden fees, no credit card details required!

Visit Website

PACKAGE 3: Advertising + Rent Now

Even though this package isn’t available under the free trial offer, it’s still quite frankly, peanuts – at only £69. And it’s totally worth it if you want the extra features it comes with.

OpenRent’s Rent Now package comes with all the features provided in the Ultimate Advertising package, plus the following:

  • Tenancy creation service – allows the landlord to create a custom tenancy agreement and get it digitally signed.
  • Deposit registration – registers the deposit with MyDeposits, and serves the prescribed information to the tenants.
  • First month’s rent collection – collects the first rent payment on the behalf of the landlord. There is an option to continue the rent collection service for £10 per month.

I know a lot of landlords opt for this package because of the tenancy creation service feature alone. But if you already have a tenancy agreement that you’re happy with and you’re happy to protect your own deposit with a deposit scheme (which is what I do), then perhaps the free trial package is the way forward.

I’ll leave it in your capable hands to decide.

Letting AgentRatingTermIncludes / NotesPrice
Rating
4.9
Google Reviews
Duration
3 months
Includes / Notes

Advertising + Rent Now package
  • Key features
  • Rightmove listing
  • Zoopla listing
  • Deposit registration
  • Tenancy sign-up service
  • First month's rent collection
Price£69 Inc VAT Visit Website

OpenRent’s FREE trial explained

OpenRent’s free trial package is only available by using this exclusive promo link (or any of the other links to OpenRent in this blog post), you won’t find it if you go directly to OpenRent’s website and navigate to the product pages.

  • The free trial is for 5 days – their service and everything listed above won’t cost you a penny with in the trial period.
  • After the free trial ends, you do NOT have to pay anything unless you wish to continue using their service. For 3 months additional service, it costs £39 for new customers and £49 for returning customers!
  • Your vacant property WILL get listed on Rightmove, Zoopla & Gumtree (usually within 24 hours), and believe me when I say that 5 days is generally MORE than enough time to generate a buttload of enquiries… unless you’re trying to shift a piece-of-shit death-trap in the middle of nowhere, that is. But ultimately, you could end up finding tenants without spending a penny during the free trial.
  • You’re NOT tied into any contracts, so you won’t be held accountable to pay any fees during the free trial.
  • There are NO hidden or extra fees, like extortionate tenancy renewal fees, check-in fees etc!
  • You don’t need to enter any credit card or payment details (it’s always sketchy and nerve wracking when free trials require payment details)!

What if I don’t find tenants in 5 days and want to market my property for longer?

Ok, good question.

Of course, there’s a chance you may not find the perfect tenants within the free trial period (actually, to be fair, that would be quite normal), and in that case, you have the option of paying £49 (inc VAT) to extend OpenRent’s service for an extra 3 months. At this point, you will be required to enter your credit card details to make payment.

Is OpenRent the best Online Letting Agent?

There are several brilliant online letting agents offering tenant-find services to choose from, and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by any of them as long as you understand how online agents fundamentality operate and what they bring to the table.

Being a long-time and avid fan of online agents, I’ve given most of them a spin at least once.

So what I will say is this, if you’re a competent self-managing landlord that’s looking for a reliable, functional and cost-effective “tenant-find” service, and happy to just get on with it, then I don’t think there’s currently a better option than OpenRent.

OpenRent is perfect for self-sufficient landlords that require a service that generate enquiries, and a means of organising the process by the way of an initiative and centralised dashboard. You’ll be pushed to find better value from another agent in the same tier.

However, if you’re looking for an ongoing hand-held experience, which offers telephone support and features you’d expect from a managed service, then I don’t think OpenRent will be best suited for you (least of all because OpenRent don’t offer telephone support). You’d be better served looking at other online agents like LettingAProperty.com. While they do offer a basic tenant-find package, their core focus is on providing more feature rich managed services, and they’re brilliant at it. Their packages include features like monthly rent collection, rent guarantee insurance, emergency maintenance cover etc. For all intents and purposes, they target an entirely different demographic of landlords than OpenRent.

Funny enough, on my LettingAProperty.com review, I advise people not to use their tenant-find service and to opt for OpenRent’s instead, simply because it’s much better value and they do it better.

How are OpenRent able to offer such low prices?

During the extremely rare cases where an unbelievable offer proves to be true and pure, I need to understand why, don’t you? I literally need to, otherwise I’ll forever be looking for trip-wires. The looming concern of being caught out by the small-print would definitely plague my mind.

So to relieve myself from concern, and perhaps yours too, I’ve spoken directly to one of the co-founders to gain a better understanding of what the hell is going on, and how they’re able to make their business model financially viable under the circumstances. Having heard their side, I’m now informed enough to explain it to you, so you can join the dots for yourself.

They’re able to offer FREE trials and the cheapest rates thereafter (to my knowledge), while not compromising on customer service, because of three main reasons…

  • 1) In-house technical skills – one of the biggest costs of starting and running any online service/website is developing and maintaining the technical infrastructure. Fortunately, one of the founding-members of OpenRent is a technical genius, so the only real start-up cost of developing the website was his time (which I’m not devaluing, but there was no hard cash required). So straight away a large portion of that cost was eradicated. That said, they have massively evolved since their start-up days, so they do now have a team of technical-monkeys steering the ship, not just one socially inept geek.

    From what I know, most online letting agent founders aren’t website developers, they’re letting agents and/or landlords, so they have to take a HUGE hit on development costs.

  • 2) Automation – I guess this is an extension of the above factor, and achieved because of the technical abilities they have at their disposal.

    While they do have full-time phone support available and real people replying to emails, their system is extremely automated, meaning less human interference is required, which means less employed manpower.

    Now, don’t misconstrue that as a negative, because it’s not. All I’m saying is that they have automated their system so well that there’s very little reason for anyone to pick up the phone and ask for support, because their automated system takes care of most of the operational procedures, and keeps landlords fully in the loop with live status updates.

  • 3) Upselling other products – they make a large chunk of change from upselling other products beyond their bread and butter “Tenant find service“, such as drawing up contacts, EPC’s and Gas Safety Checks.

    To be honest, most other online agents businesses do the same. They probably wouldn’t survive without the upsells.

  • 4) Great service – they’re so sure their service is spectacular that they’re confident you’ll return to use their service over and over, only you won’t mind paying their regular fees you’ll be subject to next time. Basically, they’ll profit from repeat business.

That all makes sense.

This sounds like a sales pitch!

Believe me, it’s not.

As said, I’m not here to sell anything, and I don’t hype bullshit.

Most online letting agents approach me with an enticing sales pitch, because they want to be added to my list of online letting agents table. I refuse 98% of them (that’s why my list is very limited), even when they try to twist my arm with financial compensation. Unless I understand, use and/or believe they are providing a valuable service to landlords, I’m not interested. That’s the bottom line.

Try OpenRent for Free (exclusive deal)

Your thoughts…

So, out of genuine curiosity, have you used OpenRent? If so, please provide your feedback below. Similarly, if you’re thinking about using them, or have any questions regarding their service.

Also, please let me know how you get on if you decide to use them.

93 Join the Conversation...

Showing 43 - 93 comments (out of 93)
1 out of 5 rating2 out of 5 rating3 out of 5 rating4 out of 5 rating1 out of 5 rating42 people have rated their experience with OpenRent - The Online Letting Agent.4.2 out of 5 Stars.Leave your Comment / Review
The Landlord Avatar
The Landlord 10th November, 2018 @ 09:01

@Abdul
You've clearly gone in blindly and not even understood the service OpenRent provide. They don't offer a fully managed service for landlords, so why would tenants report "maintenance-type problems to OpenRent"?

Of course, you might be able to find RGI cheaper somewhere else, but so what? That isn't even their core service.

Their core service is to advertise rentals for landlords (that want to manage their own property), and you'll be pushed to find any other online agent that advertises on Rightmove/Zoopla for less.

43
Guest Avatar
Abdul 10th November, 2018 @ 14:09

In that case why do they push themselves as a LETTING AGENCY?

They are what you say - an advertising platform for rented properties who offer no competition to proper letting agents because they offer none of the services proper letting agencies offer.

I have used them. Amongst the myriad of useless and unvetted responses the platform generated I actually did select one who quickly turned into one of, if not THE, worst tenants I've had in 42 years of letting.

Can I also say that many of their adverts flout legislation. I believe in the past they've already been pulled up for failing to display EPCs on ads and currently are skating on very thin ice by failing to display landlord registration numbers on ads. And don't think the unregistered rogues (including some very unsavoury characters) aren't aware that these idiots will happily advertise the properties they are prohibited from letting. Of course, OpenRent couldn't care less who they're advertising for. After all they never so much as meet them, do they?

They're also getting a growing notoriety for suppressing negative criticism and bad reviews about themselves. Have a look at their Trustpilot site. That's a joke, mate.

Time they were stopped from calling themselves "letting agents". I mean, seriously - a letting agent who's never set foot in the properties they act as agents for??

44
The Landlord Avatar
The Landlord 10th November, 2018 @ 20:43

@Abdul

In that case why do they push themselves as a LETTING AGENCY?

Because they offer letting services.

I have used them. Amongst the myriad of useless and unvetted responses the platform generated I actually did select one who quickly turned into one of, if not THE, worst tenants I've had in 42 years of letting.

That's not really OpenRent's fault. You ultimately chose the tenants.

Their job is to generate leads, which they did.

Almost all vacancies get applicants from lousy tenants, and for all self-managing landlords, it's OUR job to reference thoroughly to minimise risks.

After all they never so much as meet them, do they?

Which is the SAME as all online letting agents that offer an advertising service, not just OpenRent.

Time they were stopped from calling themselves "letting agents"

Most online letting agents don't offer managed services.

I think the fundamental problem is that you've made it a definition that ALL letting agents MUST offer fully managed services.

Evidently, the online agent model is NOT for you.

It seems like you didn't do any research on how online agents work (which is your fault), because almost all the issues you raise has nothing to do with OpenRent specifically, your actual gripe seems to be with the actual online agency model. I say that because if you had known how online letting agents work BEFORE you used them, you wouldn't be saying what you're saying right now.

You chose a "advertise only" package, and now you're complaining because you ended up choosing a bad tenant. Additionally, you're moaning about the definition of an online letting agency.

At some point, you need to take responsibility and stop blaming everyone else. Sorry, but you're being silly.

45
Guest Avatar
abdul 11th November, 2018 @ 02:17

Sidestepping the ad homs and other deflections, what you seem to be saying is that OpenRent are as useful acting as letting agents who don't manage property as online hairdressers are who don't actually cut any hair.

"it's letting agency, Jim, but not as we know it"

So OpenRent is a letting agency which doesn't actually physically visit the properties it acts as agent for. Or have any direct contact with the landlords for whom it manages. It doesn't inspect property, so it knows nothing about its condition, the condition of the buildings they are in, or the surrounding areas. And it's happy to send its tenant clients to properties and landlords it knows nothing about. Equally, it's happy to refer anyone to these landlords without a thought as to their suitability. I might be missing something here, but isn't all this opening the door to a vast amount of time wasting? Isn't one of the central arts of tenant/property finding to match suitable tenants to suitable properties? But of course how do you do that if you don't know anything about either the tenants or the properties?

It seems the rest of it is about being a letting agent for properties the landlords manage themselves. And (lol) in your opinion I'm just too silly to see that this is how 'online letting agency' works and to see how much better it is than the management service non-online letting agents offer!!

Like barbers cut hair, letting agents manage property. It's what they do. Online shmonline. Managing property - all aspects of property - is what letting agents do.

Like I said, "It's letting agency Jim, but not as we know it". (or what could be described as Scotch Mist).

What OpenRent does is tenant finding. Plus, of course, "upselling" a range of pretty poor ancillary services for those too lazy to be able to either research where/who supplies these services best in their local area or too stupid to ask google for suggestions too.

So let's focus on what appears to be the only aspect of letting that they actually don't get the owner to do themselves. Advertising property to let on internet letting portals.

This is their sole useful function to the professional landlord who can get every other aspect of letting done better and cheaper by a proper letting agent.

But when you look at their ads, as you avoided commenting on, many of them don't contain compliant data such as landlords' registration numbers.

Are you comfortable with that?

Y'see one of the most basic functions of landlord registration is to refuse registration to people deemed unfit to be landlords. That includes individuals who have been convicted of offences such as crimes of violence, drugs and fraud. So when your 18 year old daughter is off to uni in some far off town and is looking for a flat there she knows when she sees a landlord registration number that her potential landlord has passed some basic local authority "fit and proper" suitability checks.

Are you really happy to be flying a flag for clowns whose ads don't comply with that basic legal requirement?

And do you think the scum who have been refused or removed from registration aren't aware that certain clowns don't care about the legal requirement to post the landlord registration number in all or any adverts for residential lets??

For fucks sake. They don't inspect properties. They don't inspect tenancies. They don't maintain properties. They haven't a clue who their landlords are. And in fact they don't manage properties AT ALL. All they do is advertise properties and they don't even do that compliantly!!!

O but forgive me. I just don't understaaaaand! This is the new and improved version of letting agency business!! Better than that old highstreet version!!

Y'know I get the feeling you've not been a landlord very long, and certainly not of a portfolio of any size. And with some certainty you've never owned or operated a letting agency either. Because you'd be something of a jackass to have a lengthy property experience and still see OpenRent as anything much more than a game.

Will it last? Hmmmm. A look at its filing history seems to show that the only cash it has is from investors (whose judgement re. online 'wonders' is notoriously poor) and that's after several years of operation. I wouldn't hold out much hope for it.

And if I were you I'd get hold of a copy of an old story to read and think about. It's called "The Emperor's New Clothes".

46
The Landlord Avatar
The Landlord 11th November, 2018 @ 11:46

Urgh.

Again, you CHOSE to use the online letting agency model, yet you're complaining about the model. The jokes on you.

OpenRent didn't just suddenly stop providing inspections, or suddenly stop providing a fully managed service when you used their service, they have NEVER provided those services. And now you're complaining they don't provide those services, and all your efforts are being wasted on the semantics behind the meaning of "Online letting agency". Jesus Christ, you're a moron of epic proportions.

Did you actually use OpenRent thinking you were going to get a fully managed service? Yes or no? If yes, why? If no, then WTF are you complaining about? Again, you fail to understand your issue is with the online agency model, NOT with OpenRent specifically.

No one ever said online agencies are for everyone, and no one said they're better than high-street agencies. They're different models, suited for different types of landlords. Online agents clearly aren't for a landlord like you. Get over it.

The fact that you're implying I have little experience after the shambolic shit-show you're displaying is laughable. Even if I have a tiny portfolio and little experience, what difference does that make?

I'm still not the person that either used a service with ZERO understanding and then complain about it, or lack the balls to admit that I picked a terrible tenant.

Either way, grow up, man.

47
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mike 11th November, 2018 @ 12:23 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 5 out of 5 rating

Abdul - We get that you don't like OpenRent but your arguments against them show you don't understand their service offering at all.

I've used OpenRent for 3 years now on my two properties. They are a fantastic service for those of us that don't want to throw away 10-15% of our rent with a managed letting agent. The reviews of them here and on TrustPilot show that lots of people agree (unless you believe we're all stooges being paid to review!)

48
Guest Avatar
Abdul 11th November, 2018 @ 14:26

@ The Landlord. Do I detect through the increasingly angry ad homs and deflections some acceptance that OpenRent really aren't letting agents and really are merely a property advertising portal? Or do you think that Rightmove and Zoopla are letting agents too?

Where's your reply re. the omission of landlord registration numbers?

Or your opinion of this? https://www.landlordreferencing.co.uk/forum/discuss/community-forum/open-rent-tenant-referencing-opening-your-property-up-to-bad-tenants/

Or your comment on this? https://www.propertyindustryeye.com/online-agent-defends-failure-to-display-epc-ratings-on-rightmove-listings/

Or your answer to this? https://www.allagents.co.uk/review/255373/

Okay, I get it. You're an OpenRent affiliate or partner or whatever and you've naively jumped into an Emperor's New Clothes scenario and when it's exposed for the scotch mist it is then you're naturally a bit upset.

There's a massive housing shortage in the uk. Yet the only "letting service" your 'partners' provide - albeit neither particularly well nor even in compliance with regulation - is the easiest one for landlords to do themselves, ie find a tenant in the middle of a crisis level housing shortage.

Mate, man up, and give your head a wobble. And if you're going to go the self-managed route then just learn to do the marketing bit yourself too.

Had you any insight into where the letting industry is headed you would realise that - exactly like the financial services industry - it won't be long before it is impossible to self manage like a one man band.

Up the road in Jockland a vast amount of legislation is already in place which before long you can be certain will also be in England and Wales.

As relates to letting agents, it's already been made clear that so-called 'online letting agents' will be obliged to adhere to the same regulations and rules and laws as on street agents. That includes adherence to stuff that is impossible for 'online agents' such as complying with The Repairing Standard.

Trying the old "O we're ONLINE letting agents we don't DO maintenance you don't understaaaaand" rubbish isn't going to work. You wanna be an agent? Then you'll damn well adhere to the requirements and obligations on maintenance or you'll be de-registered and barred. The interests of both tenants and landlords will be obligatory for letting agents to prioritise and yes, it'll be goodbye to all rogues and cowboys and smoke-and-mirror charlatans too.

Once upon a time there used to be a myriad of one-man band financial advisors. However the weight of regulation and compliance administration made it impossible for them to continue. In exactly the same way the one man band self-managing landlord will be gone. Because regulation is soon going to require enforcement. And it is not going to be as feasible to regulate and inspect and enforce millions of individual landlords as it will be to regulate a far far smaller number of managing agents acting for those millions of individuals. So that is where it's being guided to go.

The net effect in Jockland is already being felt. Slumlording is virtually eliminated and now rogue and cowboy agencies are being forced out too. And whilst this certainly does come at a price, it's a cost that most people believe
is well worth it.

So mate, look up north and look at your future. No more poorly maintained dungeons operated by tyrants or cowboy ripoff managers. And regulation-with-teeth to enforce decent standards. And yes it might impact on profitability. But - as many have found out with OpenRent - buy cheap and you'll buy twice.

@Mike. I don't 'like' or 'dislike' OpenRent, but I do kind of dislike a business pretending to be some kind of letting agent which doesn't actually manage property at all.

I certainly do understand their "service offering". They offer online property advertising for self-managing landlords including enabling access to far bigger property advertisers who are "trade only" which is far and away their biggest selling point.

However one thing I definitely don't like is the suppression of negative comment. That Trustpilot site you refer to has become a bit of a joke. Surely you know that. Trustpilot's "core service" is to provide a promotional tool to businesses prepared to pay for the service. That "service" includes manufactured ways to block, suppress and remove poor and negative 'reviews'. This is in answer to the people - the many people - who will only look at the negative reviews to get an accurate picture of what's really on offer.

Funnily enough I recently had a conversation with the owner of a letting agency who had been the victim of a 'revenge-negative'. He contacted Google to complain about it, accompanying the complaint with proof that the revenge-negative was nonsense. He was advised that it could not be removed and that the best thing he could do would be to swamp the review section with positives!! He further discovered that there are companies who offer a set charge for 50 positive reviews!!

As even our OpenRent fanboy host here concedes, it is far less common for people to post unsolicited positive comments than negative comments. And the strangest thing is that Trustpilot's negatives are not only almost always challenged and blocked/removed but then coincidentally followed by a flood of very very similar sounding positives, none of which anyone finds "useful".

If you drill into online opinions on OpenRent as a matter of diligence you can come across quite a bit of comment which hasn't been suppressed. And an interesting picture emerges. Try it.

And of course ask yourself this - is OpenRent or is OpenRent not trying to portray itself as some kind of improved alternative to the traditional property managing letting agent? But if they're not actually doing any tenancy or property management (and that ranges far far beyond just mere maintenance management) how is that providing an alternative?

Have to say it all gets a bit too Matthew 15:14 on this particular site. But at least our host hasn't started suppressing negative commentary which doesn't agree with his. Yet.

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The Landlord 11th November, 2018 @ 14:53

... and yet, you still used OpenRent. Genius.

You're just spouting out nonsense and pulling the conversion in several different directions, which is tiresome and boring. Anyways, agree to disagree.

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Abdul 11th November, 2018 @ 15:50

Yes I did use them. In 2014. I told a co-director of my letting agency that I was going to try them to see if they could be useful to us to market for tenants. He wasn't keen, reminding me of our LettingWeb and CityLets experiences. So I decided I'd use one of my own properties as a 'guinea pig'....

From memory there was no direct contact, all communication being via email. But plenty of that. Bit time consuming and content-lite but communication nonetheless. And so the process began.

Reasonably quickly, tenant responses started coming in. (in fact, I think I've still got them stored in an email inbox).
Good start! But.....as I began to process them it emerged that they were of the most hopeless quality or wholly inappropriate. Then there were the ones who ceased communications after their initial approach. In fact, as the volume increased it began to become a bit surprising that these responses/enquiries were so unilaterally and comprehensively useless.

Surely the law of averages meant that at least ONE of these responses would be sensibly appropriate as a viewer?

Eventually one did turn up and was given the tenancy.

It is often difficult to detect mental problems, especially problems involving personality disorder (as many a divorcee will confirm). And whilst it would be incredibly useful, there is no realistic way to take reference on a prospective tenant's mental health even although it can and frequently does severely impact on how a tenancy is conducted.

Dislodging this tenant with sensitivity and consideration took immense effort on the part of our agency. Suffice it to say that whilst it was not really the poor creature's "fault", it was a nightmare tenancy even though it lasted for a relatively short time. It ran normally for a month. Semi-normally for a second month. And thereafter collapsed into chaos for a few weeks until it was ended.

My co-director merely said "told you" and I said "yes you did, so that's another waste of time tried tested and binned" and I was glad I'd used one of my properties rather than a client's for this woeful and lesson-learning experience.

OpenRent were approached during the chaotic period, but did nothing to assist other than distance themselves from any responsibility for the tenant and referring to their "partner" Legal for Landlords which appears to be a legal firm dealing with the letting industry but (as I knew from their previous disastrous efforts in my area from which they subsequently withdrew years ago) is actually a firm OpenRent act as paid introducers for and whose business is to give IANAL advice and also to further refer people to proper solicitors from whom they no doubt receive further referral fees. With a loon ball embedded in my flat with all the consequent impact on the property, the neighbours and the local authorities, offering me into a referral mug-chain of 3rd rate advice wasn't really over helpful.

OpenRent seemed keen that I give their service a further go. But there didn't seem any reason why any subsequent trial wouldn't turn out the same. So it was politely declined.

Beginning in 1976, I have owned up to 200 properties over the years. At the time I tried OpenRent I owned about 100 and owned a letting agency that managed about 1000. Now I'm retired and operate two portfolios totalling 75. I have not managed them hands-on for years and they are fully managed and managed very well by an agent. Once - not that long ago - there were very few letting agents. Now they are everywhere. Many of them are poor and many more are mediocre. Far away the best ones are the ones which have grown from the management of an individual's portfolio. But most of these aren't interested in managing for anyone other than other property professionals.

The other agencies are really just business plans put into effect. Sometimes they work very well for some properties and some owners and some tenants. But more often they don't. However as 3rd party letting agency businesses they are often more profitable than the big-portfolio based agencies, often because they are planned to profit from income streams far beyond their rent-based letting commission.

To me, OpenRent are not a proper professional letting agency. If the letting agency which manages my properties ever packed up or booted me out I would sell my properties rather than use OpenRent as my agent.

If I was to write that review on TrustPilot it would be immediately suppressed blocked and removed.

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The Landlord 11th November, 2018 @ 17:09

I stopped reading after "Yes I did use them. In 2014."

So, you used them in 2014 and then decided to have a mental masturbation and share your experience almost 5 years later.

There's barely any logic, if any, in the comments you have left, that's why I've pretty much concluded with the fact that you're just trolling.

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abdul 11th November, 2018 @ 18:24

And of course when the ad homs give way to the old "He's a trooooolll" gambit, it's really game over, isn't it?

Pity. I was looking forward to your justification of the lack of landlord registration numbers on the ads, and the suppression of negative reviews.......

......not to mention an explanation of how an online property advertising agency is some kind of superior alternative to a full management letting agency service for landlords?

Your replies spout forth lots of unpleasant and abusive invective, but fall a bit short of answers. Bit of an empty box, really.

Not surprising the site's a bit of a dead zone.

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Indie 11th November, 2018 @ 19:00 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 1 out of 5 rating

Hey kids, stop bickering or Santa won't come!

As an update, I posted in June with a query and did choose to go with Openrent. Some aspects were a bit confusing but I figured them out in the end.

Most applicants were genuine and I decided on some excellent tenants.

All I wanted was a tenant find service so advertising on Rightmove was essential.

I saved a lot of money by not going with my previous high street letting agent so very happy with the service.

By the way, I found the thread on Openrent's Referencing interesting and a bit concerning. Thanks to those who posted. If I need referencing in the future I'll look into it further.

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abdul 11th November, 2018 @ 19:27

Just out of interest, do either you or the tenant consider OpenRent to be "our letting agent", or do you think of them as a tenant/property finding service with no responsibility for anything beyond the successful marketing of the property?

And if I could ask one other thing....given you're presumably self-managing all the other aspects of your letting concern, why do you need to use a 3rd party to market it when you need to find a tenant?

Admittedly some properties are tricky to get let (and I'm told OpenRent marketing doesn't make them especially easier) but most aren't and can be marketed for next to nothing particularly to the local market which is where most tenants come from.

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Eric Dickinson 12th November, 2018 @ 11:17 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 5 out of 5 rating

I have used Openrent, Upad and Easy property and they have all generated enquiries for me that led to tenants. They saved me a fortune. They are all pretty much the same and they are all online letting agents which offer tenant finding services plus various other services so I'm not sure what the issue is here. Openrent isn't the only online letting agent that offers tenant-find services, there are dozens of them these days.

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FARHAT ABBASI 18th December, 2018 @ 13:19 1 out of 5 rating 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating

I used open rent as a tenant. Everything went through good. We liked the property, we paid £200.0 deposit money. My husband and myself passed our referencing. Landlord asked to put guarantors detail. We told him that we can not provide any.And he insisted we kept denying he put us in position to withdraw our application from openrent as our moving out date from current property was very near. That is the way we lost our deposit as it is open rent policy that if tenant withdraw application deposit money will go to landlord. That landlord was well aware of this policy so he did not deny upon our inability to provide guarantor and he waited for us to withdraw.
people please be aware of paying deposit.

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Landlord 30th December, 2018 @ 17:31

Suggestion for OpenRent: make it possible for landlord to transfer tenants from high street letting agent to OpenRent in middle of tenancy.

OpenRent can only create a tenancy from start. If landlord is already using high street letting agent with good tenants, landlord cannot move to OpenRent without releasing tenant's deposit and then asking tenant to put deposit back into OpenRent.

What are your thoughts on OpenRent's tenant referencing services? Are they thorough enough?

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Lynne 19th January, 2019 @ 15:28 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 5 out of 5 rating

Just used Openrent for the first time. Fantastic service from start to finish. I will definitely be using them again. Worth every penny of the £49 I chose to pay.

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pippa 28th February, 2019 @ 15:48 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 5 out of 5 rating

Agents in London have always charged me a % of the rent, so I had good reason to try Openrent. I started with them in 2016, with the same skepticism that many on here have had. In the first tenancy, I saved myself £4680 in letting fees in that first year alone. I used it again for the relet, and once I got savvy about weeding out 'wannabe airbnb hosts', its continued to provide a significant cost saving. Whilst I still use agents up North, who charge a one off reasonable fee, and do the viewings on my behalf,I've used openrent for a couple of flats that are in my village where viewings are more easy to arrange (including at evenings and weekends, when agencies aren't open, which is appreciated by tenants who can't take the time off work) There have been occassions when Ive found a tenant through word of mouth, and I still paid their £49 fee just for Openrent's online, ease of use services. Referencing, contract provision and signing, rent collect, and issuing the prescribed information. Yes I had to upload my insurance documents to enable them to list on rightmove, but that's just a digitial doc. on my pc. I've also used their gas safety check services, which was cheaper and more reliable, than chasing various engineers directly. For a hands on landlord, with a professional understanding of letting, and a set of photos that illustrates a quality property, I highly recommend Openrent.

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Morgan 3rd April, 2019 @ 16:53 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating

I used them for the first time this month.
Some aspects of the service were really good and one not so good and one awful.

I started with the FREE offer and I found a tenant quickly enough. Maybe my fault but it was only after signing up that I realised the free offer was restricted to 5 days of advertising on the bigger websites
I decided to pay £49.

There was a problem with the referencing (Rent Guard) and they failed the tenant for lack of sufficient income. That was a mistake and it was quickly rectified. Stressful, nevertheless.

My real and ongoing problem has been with their ADD ON service and the use of Gas-Elec.
I paid £178 for PAT and EIC in 1 bed flat.
Underfloor heating has been in flat since new. Never had a problem. It was working the day before the EIC and has not worked since.
I paid OPEN RENT but they insist I deal with Gas-Elec who want to charge me £78 to attend. Their employee removed heater switch covers to test circuit.
I refuse to accept that is a coincidence the heaters have not worked since.
Beyond annoyed.

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Morgan 3rd April, 2019 @ 16:55 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating

...that it is...

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Bhar 18th April, 2019 @ 17:58 1 out of 5 rating 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating

The engineer went to the property and because he found it difficult to park (there was parking there, but obviously did not look hard enough), he abandoned the appointment and I got charged £30.
I tried to contact Openrent and could not get through. I left a message and got no phone calls back. Instead, they charged me £30, without entering into any communication.
I have had this property for 14 years, and had different engineers go each year, and NEVER had this problem.
Steer clear - very poor customer service!
I'd never use them again.

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The Landlord 18th April, 2019 @ 19:25

@Bhar
What engineer, and what does the engineer have to do with OpenRent? I don't really understand the problem...

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David 21st May, 2019 @ 14:51

Hi,

I am moving country (within UK) and i am keeping a property i used to live in. I have an in-law closeby to manage the property if there are any issues etc. Would OpenRent be perfect of this, or is there anywhere else you recommend anyone else for my situation?

Thanks,
David.

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shazza 21st May, 2019 @ 15:03

Hi David, yes I think it would be perfect if you have someone close or manage the property yourself. Open rent is very useful in finding tenants and have used them exclusively for my last 8 properties.

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shazza 12th June, 2019 @ 14:06

I have used open rent for a few years and been successful in getting new tenants this way. Due to the recent changes in fees, I have now used Open rent to reference potential tenants and guarantors. This has resulted in extra fee of £60 and Open rent stop advertising the house, while the references are being carried out. Think this is a bit steep and not great to stop advertising as if there is a problem with the references then we are back to square one. Does anyone know of a company that would do references any cheaper? What are other landlords experiences of this?

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The Landlord 12th June, 2019 @ 14:17

@shazza
OpenRent are actually one of the cheapest when it comes to referencing, especially since the Tenant Fee Act was introduced on the 1st of June.

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Bernadette 16th June, 2019 @ 12:18 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 5 out of 5 rating

Recieved about 20 enquiries within 10 days. Found suitable tenants. Communication was excellent with tenants , guarantors and my self. Decided on £49 package and got the contracts signed electronically. I paid extra £20 per person for references but worth it for peace of mind. Rent is also paid through Open rent and straight away into my account.Perfect!! Everything completed within 2 weeks.

Have recommended Openrent to family and friends who have now used it successfully.

Thank you Openrent for saving tenants and landlords from being ripped off by agents.

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Landlord 1st October, 2019 @ 16:34 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 5 out of 5 rating

agree with all, used openrent free trial and actually found a brilliant tenant. I'm just baout to use openrent again for another property and the £29 is good value IMO. You can get a lot of rubbish enquiries but that's the way it is.

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RAYDON 8th October, 2019 @ 05:27

There is only one way this stacks up financially ...The portals must be discounting their costs to openrent to quite a considerable degree.

Forget upselling and a techi founder, their operational costs still rise...just look what they spend with Google for starters.

The private rented sector is about to change dramatically and the portals know it, growth in large property companies, subsidised build to rent, housing associations.

Longer tenancies means less let only business , no section 21, and a raft of new tenant rights, taxation on second homes and buy to lets means less small owner landlords..

Investors are not that stupid, this in my opinion is a business set up with the portals support, for the future which will not include small letting agents and sorry will not include small private owner landlords...we are all turkeys waiting for Christmas and paying for the privilege.

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Luisa 16th June, 2020 @ 22:02 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 5 out of 5 rating

I have found OpenRent to be excellent. The platform is very easy to use, step by step guides and helpful information is just a click away. My property generated 52 leads in 48 hours and many were good quality. The option to pause the advert due to the volume of enquiries was great. The add ins for GS certs, EPCs etc make everything all in one place and simplifies the processes required to meet landlord obligations. I’m impressed and will certainly use OpenRent again

I ran a letting and sales office for 18 plus years and hard to please. OpenRent ticked all the boxes

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Martin 13th July, 2020 @ 14:54 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating

Can't fault OpenRent but has anyone noticed the new charging, £10 a month for rent collection on new tenancies? This is on the £49 package. Be careful it's one of the checkbox items as you create the contract. For the privilege of holding all those payments £10 imho is a lot for sending out a few SMS messages based off of a schedule.

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shazza 14th July, 2020 @ 07:34

Yes Martin, I have used the rent now option on a couple of properties and just came across this. The first ones no charge for collecting the rent (and still no charge) however the last one has just gone onto the £10 per month and agree it is a bit steep. I hadn't realised that Open Rent now charge for this service when I did the Rent now option so it is something that I will bear in mind for my next tenancies. Its a bit unclear in the wording on the website, which is a bit annoying.

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The Landlord 14th July, 2020 @ 08:48

Hi people,

The rent collection service used to be free with the "Rent now" package, but OpenRent have been charging £10 per month for the service for a few months now. Landlords that opted into the rent collection service before they started charging, will continue getting it free (so I've been told by OpenRent).

Anyone who opts into the rent collection service today will only get the first month free. To emphasise, the rent collection service is still completely optional with the "Rent now" package. You can enable/deactivate it as and when you please, and they'll only charge £10 on the months when they actually collect rent for you.

Quite a few [confused] landlords contacted me about it when OpenRent first started charging the monthly fee. To be honest, I don't think OpenRent were all that clear about it, so I agree, they could have done a better job communicating.

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EMH 20th July, 2020 @ 21:33

OpenRent have been brilliant.

I had 2 traumatic years with a High Street Letting agent who made mistakes galore on the process of tenant find and endless paperwork errors.

OpenRent was clear and simple, giving me control and responsibility and saving me from the stress and expense of the High Street agent.

I can’t fault OpenRent in anyway. I wish I’d used them earlier. The dashboard organisation is straightforward and they email you with updates every step of the way.
What more can I say - top class service.

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Alex 13th August, 2020 @ 15:54 1 out of 5 rating 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating

This all sounds nice and lovely for landlords but as usually the tenant gets no support and isn't taken into account if there is a dispute.

The platform should really do more checks about the landlords they allow to advertise. I had to deal with a scam landlord and after research I am not the only one.

Anyway, for tenants, I would say avoid it as they are shady and will make it very hard to get help in case of dispute.

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Edwin 14th March, 2021 @ 13:59 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 5 out of 5 rating

First time landlord letting out a flat we used to live in in London.

We used open rent to let it out and found it easy and pretty painless - and actually quite fun (though I imagine that wears off).

We had around 30-40 interested people and arranged about 10 viewings. In the end we had 2 interested parties, both of which would have been fine. The system for setting up viewings is quite manual - we used calendly to manage this so that people could arrange their own time, but something could be built in.

The system for referencing and communicating with the tenant, doing the contract etc was all very smooth. Slightly regret the 6 month break clause in the contract that they strongly encourage but other than that it was all good.

Would definitely use again.

The hardest bit of the whole process was tidying up to take the photos - that took days!

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Geoff 2nd September, 2021 @ 17:51 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 5 out of 5 rating

I can’t rate Openrent highly enough. Having been a poor experience with an agent when I let the property previously it was a breath of fresh air to move to DIY mode. I had lots of enquiries within a 48hr period and found lovely tenants. The referencing service initially failed one of the tenants but they rectified that when the tenant queried it. Other than that it was smooth sailing.

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Amy 5th August, 2022 @ 08:56

Hi,
If I use Openrents Ultimate advertising package - is it possible I can still pay for them to do referencing?
I noted it is free to register the deposit and I want to amend some of the clauses in the AST and am not bothered about them collecting the first rent payment (noting they hold it for some time) so it makes sense to go for the £29 package and pay £20 per reference after the free trial.

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The Landlord Avatar
The Landlord 5th August, 2022 @ 08:59

Hi Amy,

Yup, you can still pay them to do the referencing. Actually, they sell the referencing as a standalone service, so you don't even need to use any of their "tenant find" services to use their referencing.

Hope that helps.

Best of luck (finding tenants)!

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Victoria 25th September, 2022 @ 12:38 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 1 out of 5 rating

Dear landlord,

Recently I find tenants in Openrent, there are so many South Africa people claimed that they rent this house for a friend who will arrive next week.
So so so many.
I am wondering is it a scam as they usually happy to pay for 6months upfront rent.

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The Landlord 26th September, 2022 @ 06:39

Hi Victoria, that sounds like a classic scam to me. So I would be very careful.

But note, this isn't a OpenRent issue - OpenRent simply help landlords list properties across the platforms.

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Victoria 26th September, 2022 @ 12:18

Dear landlord,

Can you share your experience on this kind of scam? One of my friend is going to rent his apartment to the “friend” coming next week.

I really curious on it.

Many thanks and I wish you can reach more good tenants.

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Andy 9th June, 2023 @ 17:38 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 5 out of 5 rating

Used OpenRent about 18months ago after both our properties became vacant around the same time. We suffered a deluge of applicants before they even got on Rightmove and also used them for contracts etc. Definitely would use again. Always do your own viewings and read the references carefully, even if they 'pass',for inconsistencies and omissions.

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ABC 9th August, 2023 @ 14:51

Does anyone have any tips on how to filter 'bad' tenants/time-wasters, from legitimate applicants?

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The Landlord 10th August, 2023 @ 08:12

Hey @ABC,

If you're talking specifically when using OpenRent, I ensure "Advanced tenant screening" is switched on, that helps a lot.

If you're talking more in general, I've written a < href="https://www.propertyinvestmentproject.co.uk/blog/screening-tenants/">guide on screening tenants, which covers the entire process.

Hope that helps!

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ABC 10th August, 2023 @ 09:08

Thank you @The Landlord.

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NotSoNewbieLandlord 28th August, 2023 @ 20:48 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 5 out of 5 rating

I was wondering why Abdul was being so bloody weird then he exposed himself by revealing he is a letting agent! Now makes total sense. Don't blame him as I would be life-threatened by this ridiculously good company.

OpenRent is the most amazing service I've ever come across in these times of appalling customer service and downright profiteering.I don't know how they do it.

I've used their £49 service including rent collection for years. I'm now in the process of setting up a new tenancy and I can see I now will have to pay £10 a month for the rent collection facility. I think it might be worth the money and even if it's not, tbh it's probably worth it just to support them!

Over the years I have used OpenRent's EPC, gas safety, rent guarantee insurance and inventory services. All exceptionally good value and seamlessly handled. I can't sing their praises enough.

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SAM 20th September, 2023 @ 20:47

I’ve just used open rent for the first time to find new tenants. I’ve saved myself an absolute fortune compared to using an estate agent. I used the £49 option mainly because it included the drawing up of the contract. It took me a while to get used to navigating the system but overall it was quite easy. I particularly like the fact that open rent ask potential tenants a range of questions that sort out the serious candidates. I paid for a credit check for an applicant who them failed to complete the paperwork. He then withdrew his interest in the property. Open rent informed me straight away and quickly refunded my money.
My new tenant was equally impressed with the amount of information that open rent provided to them. Ie The how to rent guide and copies of the EPC, gas cert etc. They ended up with two lots as I provided the information to them as well. I would definitely use them again.

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Anon 26th September, 2023 @ 19:19

Hi everyone,

I have some questions,

Is using open rent stressful at all?
Do you do the viewings for tenants yourselves? If not then who chooses the agents to view the property?
For those who have used open rent before - would you use open rent again?

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Emh 27th September, 2023 @ 10:20

Absolutely I would recommend OpenRent. I used a useless High St agent for a few lettings, who only piled on more stress. With OpenRent you ‘take control’. Maybe not for every landlord who doesn’t want to do some of the physical work of showing prospective tenants round, but OpenRent are spot on with the paperwork and legislation and I’ve been very happy with them for the last few years.

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Janice 28th November, 2023 @ 13:43 1 out of 5 rating 2 out of 5 rating 3 out of 5 rating 4 out of 5 rating 1 out of 5 rating

I have just started my third marketing with Open rent going for their £69 package. Once you understand how it all works, it is much easier and certainly less stress than using high street agents. When I approach high street agents wanting a letting only package, they get a gleam in their eye seeing which of their crappy tenants they can dump on you. In central London many will not even engage /negotiate finder only deals. I have experienced good admin with Open Rent - they get back to you quickly and efficiently, communication is key, and you can put pre-viewing filters on your advert etc. I will use their accompanied viewing package this time as I have broken an ankle and cannot do my own, unfortunately. I also use the NRLA documents and referencing. They are excellent.

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