Start-up Leicestershire agent faces down online lettings giants with £49 service

  The market for online-only lettings agents has a new player but it’s not one of the usual suspects. Rather than another angel-investor backed tech firm with a London dotcom office peppered with snooker tables and latte machines, step forward Leicester-based Harry Albert Lettings & Estates. The company, which is based in the central Belgrave area of the city and also offers an Airbnb-copycat short-term lettings platform, has launched an OpenRent-style service that enables landlords to upload their properties to OnTheMarket, with listings on Zoopla and Rightmove due later. Harry Albert charges £49 for a listing that will last up to six months, the same price as OpenRent’s paid-for three-month service and less expensive than Upad’s Standard £120 service. Breaking the rules “We decided to launch after we saw larger agents routinely breaking the rules, [so] our intention was to operate nationally but being a small company, we felt we were punching above our weight slightly which is why we’ve opted to cover a smaller area for our other services beyond advertise only,” says Managing Director Andrew Hill (pictured, above). “This allows us to provide a more comprehensive and more personal service to our clients.” Andrew also says he hopes…