Online letting agent Upad has abandoned its up-front fees for landlords who use its most expensive service.

Called ‘Pay On Success’, it replaces its ‘Complete’ service which landlords used to pay up front for but, unlike traditional agents, now pay for only when tenants begin referencing.

“We appreciate that landlords don’t come in one size and that, therefore, we shouldn’t offer one single pricing package,” says James Davis, Upad’s CEO (pictured, below).

The new service is essentially the same as the old one. For £399 including VAT landlords get tenancy compliance, a landlords’ club, personal property expert, tenant enquiry handling service, referencing, contract and payment management and photos.

Its two more basic services called ‘Standard’ and ‘Essential’ continue to be paid for up-front by landlords.

“We continually review our service to landlords,” says James Davis.

“This ensures that the options we provide to them not only meet their current needs but exceed expectations and allow us to stand-out compared to traditional high street agents.

“The launch of our ‘Pay On Success’ package is one such innovation and has already been very positively received.

“Early performance data shows that this package is proving twice as popular as the ‘Complete’ offer it replaces – this in itself demonstrates how we’re responding to what landlords want.”

More landlords

Upad is the UK’s oldest large online letting agent and was launched by James, who is himself a prolific landlord, in 2007 and who last year claimed high street agents would go the same way as Yellow Pages.

Last year it claims to have helped its landlords let out 10,000 properties a year, its largest to date.

The company also says it saw 20% more landlords sign up to use its service year-on-year during the final three months of 2017, and that registrations also increased by 14% year-on-year during January this year.