How do they do it? Online lettings platform offers £35-a-month ‘premium’ service

Rental proptech platform RentalStep has launched a ‘premium’ property management service for landlords priced at just £35 a month including listings on Rightmove and Zoopla. The figure is surprising given that one proptech entrepreneur recently told The Negotiator that it costs approximately £30 per rental listing on Rightmove. Therefore, ‘nearly-free’ services like OpenRent and RentalStep are making almost no profit from charging landlords to use their service, and are betting on up-selling additional services such as gas safety checks, rental collection and property management. RentalStep’s new ‘premium’ service is in addition to the company’s existing but more basic package, which offers free referencing and tenancy contracts and a one-off tenant finding fee of £20. Lettings Fees Liverpool-based RentalStep says it offers ‘unlimited’ advertising on the two portals within its new service, and says its premium service is a direct response to the tenant fees ban. “Landlords only have five months until their management fees could start to rise as agents look to offset the costs of the ban,” says Rental Step founder Mike Georgeson (pictured, above). “What’s more, over the next few months some tenants may delay moving as they consider the impact of Brexit while waiting until they no…