The company behind tech-based national online lettings agency Rentify has appointed administrators.

Founded in 2011 by George Spencer, the ‘virtual lettings agent’ has posted the announcement via an update on Companies House, where its latest accounts for 2020 are also overdue. The company at one point claimed to have 175,000 landlords using its service.

All of its directors have now resigned, and the two remaining active directors are both employees of administrator David Rubin & Partners. It is rumoured that a buyer is being sought for the business – particularly as its huge landlord database along could be worth a significant sum.

Rentify offered residential property landlords a way to significantly reduce their overheads claiming on its website page to reduce costs by nearly £4,000 on a property producing £15,600 of gross rent.

The announcement follows hot on the heels of another lettings industry disruptor, Howsy, which last week revealed it is being sold to an estate agency chain in order to continue.

Rentify charged a 15% management fee, higher than the industry average of 11%, but claimed its tech can reduce costs enough to fund this higher fee and save landlords money.

Lettings agency

Signs that Rentify has been in trouble had been emerging recently; in December last year a tenant living in a building the company managed posted on discussion forum Reddit saying the company had ‘ceased all communication and all posting on social media and stopped listing properties’. And a few days ago landlord group iHowz warned its members to ‘be aware’ that the company behind Rentify was in trouble.

Indeed, there are no listings within its search facilities on the company’s website or on its Rightmove profile, and it hasn’t tweeted since June last year.

The company, at one point, attracted some big industry names including Knight Frank’s letting chief Lucy Jones in October 2019, although she left Rentify in October last year to join estate agency owner the Lomond Group as its COO.

Rentify’s website is hopelessly out of date – Edwin Wills, who now works for a retail tech platform, is still listed as its CTO and Jones is still listed as its MD.

The Neg has approached Rentify for comment. Its only telephone helpline is permanently returning the engaged tone.