Get Rentd, Get Rid of Letting Agents?
Let’s get rid of the middle man (person) is a common phrase and especially for those innovative concepts which come about in order to save people time and simplify processes. Better known under the theme of #Proptech in the estate agent (and lettings) industry and applauded by many, new ideas are entering the industry to facilitate the process as a whole and to eliminate past procedures that would be seen as slow and clunky today.
#PropTech can also look to disrupt the industry and this is where Rentd sits, so it seems. Looking to eliminate the typical letting agent and instead bridge the gap between landlord and tenant (revolutionary that might be seen as, but nothing new surely?). The letting sector is awash of #proptech today and some of these are great successes and many would say invaluable advancements, dare I say the likes of FixFlo (multi-lingual Repairs and Maintenance Management software) falls in to that bracket.
Though what if Rentd can become the central platform for a high percentage of renters and landlords (maybe even letting agents too) to use? If you can build the brand, traffic, reputation then you deserve to take the bright lights, success will be yours and rightly so even if you are knocking off people from their perch.
“With us, our landlord’s properties appear on Rightmove, Zoopla, Primelocation, Boomin, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.” source Rentd
This is nothing new all of this I hear many say and what experience tells me also. Estate / Letting agents have seen multiple advancements come and go and yet every small town to large city will have a row of estate and letting agency shop fronts and each busy selling and managing property. Rentd surely will enter the market what with their recent investment (and current interest), though surely they will take just a small percentage of the sector and for each and every letting agency this will equate to just a tiny fraction of their money revenue?
I spoke to the well respected estate agency owner & industry blogger, Maurice Kilbrade from Maurice Kilbride Estate & letting Agents, who shared the following words with me:
“I read with interest the article regarding Rentd and am none the wiser as to what they are bringing to the table? Their charges are actually higher than ours for a let only so they are hardly a disruptor! I also believe, probably more than ever, that with the increasing amount of compliance and legislative changes in the private rental sector, it is in the best interests of landlords to use the managed service of an established, reputable agent – especially if they want to sleep at night and not perhaps find themselves on the wrong side of the law. From a tenants perspective it also makes sense to protect themselves from any unscrupulous landlords, looking to cut corners, who will be held accountable by professional agents to ensure tenants rights are protected as well.”
I say jolly good luck to any new and disruptive concept out there, who says they can not work and become a major success – With passion and drive behind us we can achieve our goals. Maybe you should visit Rentd today and see if what they offer is a benefit to you or maybe you may wish to stick with the good old high street letting agency…
(I did reach out to Rentd, but I did not hear back in time to include their comments in this article – I will include a new a fresh new article and from their point of view if I do.)
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