I used Openrent for the first time & will definitely use again, here's my story.

The lettings industry is one of the only industries left that hasn’t been digitally overhauled. Its processes are antiquated, time consuming and bloody expensive.

Yet it’s still so popular, landlords still trust the agents over newer, cheaper and more efficient methods of finding and managing tenants for our rental properties.

We assume it’s a real labour finding tenants, arranging viewings, vetting them, waiting for credit checks to come back, inventories and deposits, electrical checks etc. It sounds like hard work, but is it really?

The traditional experience of handing over your property to an agent and then having to hand over your first month’s rent for their fees, is decreasing in popularity.  Not just because of the expensive fees that agents charge, but also due to the advancement of platforms such as Openrent who offer a full tenant onboarding starting at £55.

I’ve been a landlord for several years and have only ever used agents. I thought why not try it out and see how the experiences compare. 

Listing with Openrent

I listed my apartment for rent on a Tuesday morning with Openrent. I paid £55 to list the property, an extra £25 for them to do an online tenant credit check (they use the same services an agent would use) and, another £25 for them to register the deposit in a deposit scheme.

By Friday evening I had done 4 viewings, found a lovely tenant and had their 1 week holding deposit sat in my bank account, whilst I waited for the credit check to come back.  Btw, Openrent offers the exact same services as an agent with a standard AST contract included in the sign-up price.

Its hands on

Using Openrent is hands on, you have to do more but you also have more control.

The online platform was okay to use, straight forward and I am no tech geek, so it needed to be idiot proof!

My property is 5 miles away so its easy for me to meet for viewings whereas landlords with properties further afield might struggle to fit in viewings. Having had some dodgy tenants over the years, I enjoyed meeting prospective tenants to get a feel for them and their character.  After all, you’re leaving them in charge of a very expensive asset, so you need to build trust from the get-go. 

While I found a good tenant, In all honesty there were a few enquiries that just looked dodgy so it’s up to you and your gut feelings to decide if it is a scam or not and whether to agree to a viewing. You will have to do some detective work whereas agents are used to weeding out the scammers and window shoppers.

My final thoughts

I found OpenRent to be faster, cheaper, and despite being more hands-on, actually easier than dealing with some letting agents. 

The platform is simple to use and surprisingly comprehensive, covering everything from listing your property to managing viewings, credit checks, and deposit registration.

I loved the feeling of seeing that first month’s rent in my bank account as a deposit and not a withdrawal, was very satisfying! All in all, I’d definitely use OpenRent again. For me, the savings and the sense of control far outweigh the extra effort.