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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