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Latest property news
High street agents making 473% profit on some lettings fees, says OpenRent
The profits generated from the lettings fees charged by high street agencies remain unfair despite the looming ban to be introduced during the next parliament. That is the claim made by the UK’s largest letting agency brand, online-only operator OpenRent, which says it is now the biggest in the market at 50,000+ properties let a year, up from 25,000 two years ago. This, OpenRent says, makes it larger than competitors LSL at 35,000 rentals, Foxtons at 20,000 or Haart at 5,000. It also claims to have a ‘time to rent’ of seven days. Referencing cost The South London-based online agency says the real cost of referencing a tenant is £15 and yet recent government research indicates an average industry cost to tenants of £86. It also reveals that the average cost of setting up a guarantor is £95, while the real cost is also £15. And the average cost of a tenancy renewal is £85 but OpeRent, using a calculated cost based on it taking ten minutes to check a renewal contract and an average negotiator salary of £20,000, £4 to renew. Using the same hourly calculation of staff cost, OpeRent says it costs high street agents between £4 and…
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Latest property news
UK’s ‘largest letting agent by listings’ OpenRent raises £4.4m from VC firm
OpenRent, the online-only company that claims to be the largest letting agent in the UK, has secured £4.4 million in funding from a Berlin-based venture capital firm. Global Founder’s Capital, the venture arm of Rocket Internet, is the second organisation to invest in the business since 2014 when Express Newspapers and OK! Magazine owner Northern & Shell gave OpenRent an advertising deal in return for equity in the company. OpenRent has 4,237 properties on its own website but also advertises on Rightmove, Zoopla and PrimeLocation and operates a low-fee basic model that’s free for landlords to use the first time, and then after that £29 for a basic package and £49 for a premium one, which includes tenant referencing, contract drafting, deposit registration and collection of rent. STANDALONE SERVICES The company then also sells standalone services including referencing, gas safety certificate and electrical safety checks, energy performance certificates, inventory services and photos and floor plans. OpenRent says it has 640,627 registered landlords and tenants on its books, promotes itself as the “service high street agents don’t want you to know about” and says it advertised 50,000 properties last year, although it does not reveal how many of these it rented. The…
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