Tenant fee ban ‘threat to mainstream letting agencies’

THE founder of OpenRent expects a wave of consolidation among “inefficient” estate agents if the Government follows through with plans to eradicate tenancy fees.

Adam Hyslop – who co-founded his no-tenant-fee online agency in 2012 – said traditional agents who find themselves short of cash after the prospective ban are likely to pass on costs to landlords but could lose clients as a result.

He added: “At least some of those fees will have to be, kind of, recouped by the agent in the form of higher charges to landlords.

“And if that happens, it means that a lot of landlords will reconsider and re-evaluate the level of service they get and the amount they pay. And so, hopefully, they will look at alternatives even more readily than they currently do. So we think there’s a big opportunity for us.”

The company currently charges no fees to tenants, aside from £20 per person if the landlord decides to order it to conduct a reference check.

OpenRent – which touts itself as the UK’s biggest letting agent with about 50,000 listings last year – also sells services such as gas safety checks, rent insurance and professional property photography, most of which it outsources.

It has managed to keep charges low by automating a lot of its processes and having only a handful of employees in London.