OpenRent removes Rightmove as ‘marketing option’ for landlords
Several days ago OpenRent quietly withdrew from Rightmove which, one expert says, shows the portal's tolerance for such 'cheap deals' is coming to an end.
The UK’s largest lettings platform OpenRent has stopped offering landlords the ability to market their properties via Rightmove, it has been revealed.
OpenRent’s website offered Rightmove as a marketing option until at least the 19th July but its homepage no longer mentions the portal, instead referencing Zoopla and PrimeLocation only.
While this will not be received well by landlords who use the platform and like its stripped-down, cheap and DIY approach to marketing properties, it will be music to the ears of letting agents.
One multi-branch agent, who didn’t want to be named, said he is currently renegotiating his annual Rightmove contract and that its fees were rising again – to the tune of several thousand a month.
Tenable
“I think that Rightmove has come to the conclusion that, given it has an unassailable market position within the property market, and that its only real offer is the fees agents pay, allowing platforms such as OpenRent to carry on providing Rightmove’s service at a considerable discount to the fees paid by the vast majority of its customers is no longer tenable,” he said.
“If you’re being asked to pay more for Rightmove, then seeing other ‘agents’ like OpenRent getting the same or similar service for a lot less, hurts.
“Although it pains me to say it, Rightmove for once appears to be making business decisions that are to the direct benefit of its main customers base.”
Bold move
Mike Nettleton of Agent Response, says: “OpenRent’s bold move to withdraw its listings from Rightmove is a seismic event in the UK rental market because, while OpenRent has 15% of the lettings market , it’s doesn’t provide Rightmove with 15% of its revenue.
“It’s a clear signal that the once-dominant property portal is flexing its monopolistic muscle, demanding terms so onerous that even the UK’s largest online letting agent felt compelled to walk away.
“OpenRent’s departure could be a game-changer. It presents a golden opportunity for traditional estate agents to step into the breach, demonstrating their value and expertise to landlords and tenants alike.
“It also serves as a stark warning to the industry about the dangers of over-reliance on a single platform.
“OpenRent’s disruptive business model challenged the status quo. But its experience underscores the inherent risks of building a cut-price service on top of an unstable foundation.”
Rightmove has told The Neg that it “does not comment on individual advertisers”.
The Neg has approached OpenRent for comment.
I think all agents should stop using Rightmove until they reduce their fees, which of course they would once they loose enough business. However would you want to go back to them when you find out you don’t need too!
Come on lets just all do it!
OpenRent lists four of five times the amount of rental inventory that the largest agency in the UK does, it has a very healthy ARR and profit line. And maybe the just figured that all of the top three portals get multi-millions of views a month, so you need just one? (Primelocation being part of ZPG). It does astound me that agents pay for multiple portals … why? Main reason – ‘the portals tell them they need to’ … JOKES. If you told an agent you need two or three different cars to go to an appointment, they would think the car saleperson to be mad, pay to run multiple cars; yet they pay through the nose monthly to ‘drive’ two or three portals … when one would get them to their destination just as well.