Comparison of online letting agents including OpenRent

Now that OpenRent are now charging an extra £50 for landlords to advertise on Rightmove as an “optional extra”, many landlords are asking what alternatives there are.

Whilst OpenRent are the market leading online platform for private landlords who want to find tenants for their properties without using a high street agent, they have many competitors.

OpenRent have also changed the way they handle deposits on their RentNow tenancy creation service. Previously, they transferred the deposit to the landlord’s custodial account with MyDeposits, and the landlord would manage it on MyDeposits’ platform. That worked well, having recently through the release process using MyDeposits.

However, in 2024, OpenRent withdrew the custodial scheme and now require the deposit to go into their insured deposit scheme with MyDeposits. Landlords have to manage it on the OpenRent platform, adding another layer of bureaucracy. This also means that OpenRent retain the interest on all new deposits, instead of the interest going to the tenants.

I don’t like this new approach as I can’t see how it benefits landlords or tenants.

They’re not the only show in town, and in this blog post, I compare OpenRent with the other online letting agents who advertise their rental properties on Rightmove, Zoopla, and On the Market.

Hello Neighbour in particular offers a “Get Rented” service that is priced competitively, offers a custodial deposit and competes directly with OpenRent’s RentNow. However, it doesn’t have a dashboard to communicate with tenants, and the booking system for viewings is clunky. (They tell me they are working on changing this).

In my analysis, I pick apart the different packages and provide my take on the pros and cons in an objective and balanced way. There are also discount codes for some of the competitors to OpenRent.

PS If there are other service providers who I’ve missed, let me know by using my contact form.

This page contains affiliate links. If you buy something after clicking through, you’ll be supporting this free blog. Thank you!

Side-by-side comparison of alternatives to OpenRent

Here is a side-by-side comparison that summarises my research into the services that the alternative online platforms offer private landlords to list their properties on Rightmove without using high street agents.

The devil is in the detail as only Hello Neighbour and 99Home offer a similar service to OpenRent’s RentNow. The packages offered by Quicklister and Visum are “no frills” advertising, without the full tenancy creation and compliance, but Quicklister no longer offers Rightove.

Whilst Hello Neighbour is the same price as OpenRent, as well as offering the tenancy creation features of OpenRent’s RentNow service, they provide the added benefit of having an account manager to help and fielding all initial calls and emails from applicants, passing on only the ones that are relevant to the landlord. Their referencing is cheaper to that of OpenRent.

On the other hand, Hello Neighbour don’t have a messaging facility within their platform. Instead, they offer landlords the option to communicate with the tenants directly through business WhatsApp with a unique phone number that Hello Neighbour will supply, or their own personal number. The system for organising viewings is clunky.

>> Related Post: Review of OpenRent and practical guide to using its features

Hello Neighbour: Letting “Get Rented” Self-Service £69

Hello Neighbour offer a higher level of service to OpenRent’s RentNow at the same price point. Also, the fee is only payable on success.

They also offer “Get Listed” for £29, which is primarily an advertising service, similar to OpenRent’s £49 Listing Service.

Here are the pros and cons of Hello Neighbour’s Get Rented Service:

Pros of Hello Neighbour’s Letting Get Rented Self-Service

Here are the benefits of Hello Neighbour’s service:

• Advertising on Rightmove, Zoopla, and OnTheMarket for three months, as featured adverts for 10 days
• It is priced competitively
• Unique among its competitors, Hello Neighbour provides landlords with an experienced account manager who is on hand for any questions
• Hello Neighbour field all initial calls and emails from applicants, passing on only the ones that are relevant to the landlord, helping to weed out the time-wasters
• Applicants book into viewing slots made available by the landlord and answer pre-qualification questions
• Landlords have access to all applicants’ contact details and receive the answers to the qualifying questions
• Landlords can then communicate with the applicants directly through business WhatsApp with a unique phone number that Hello Neighbour supply, or if they prefer, they can use their personal number
• Tenants make offers through the platform, which can be negotiated within the platform by both parties until they are happy
• It’s the only one to offer the full tenancy creation service equivalent of OpenRent RentNow, handling compliance, the holding deposit, tenancy agreement and digital signature, tenancy deposit collection and registration, and first rent collection
• The landlords use the platform to complete all necessary compliance prior to signing the tenancy agreement
• Once referencing is complete and the landlord is satisfied, the agreement goes out for digital signing. All information populated about the property and agreed within the offer automatically updates the contract
• The first month’s rent and deposit are taken via open banking, and the deposit is registered with MyDeposits as a custodial deposit under the landlord’s name (in contrast to OpenRent who insist the deposit is paid into their insured scheme)
• Hello Neighbour sends the necessary documentation to tenants prior to move-in, as per OpenRent RentNow, which records compliance

Cons of Hello Neighbour’s Letting Self-Service

Here are the downsides of Hello Neighbour’s service:

• The disadvantage of providing a more personal service to landlords is that Hello Neighbour field the initial contact with tenants. Whilst this does have its advantages, it means there is another step in the process for applicants. It’s closer to the service that a letting agent provides in screening applicants, and is far removed from the hands-off service of OpenRent.
• The system that books viewings is clunky and inflexible, although Hello Neighbour tell me they are about to change this.
• All applicants can currently book viewings, whereas OpenRent lets landlords pre-screen tenants by sending them an automated message in which the landlord can ask screening questions. Although landlords can cancel booked viewings on Hello Neighbour, I want to be the once choosing to invite tenants to book once they’ve passed my screening questions to weed out unsuitable applicants, rather than the other way around.
• There is no online portal where all the messages from applicants sit. The messages are in the business WhatsApp account. Whilst this does ensure the landlord isn’t giving out their contact details, it is not as convenient as having it on the platform.

Hello Neighbour are working on all of these drawbacks, and once they’ve addressed these, it should be an excellent option for landlords.

Note that I am an independent non-executive director of Hello Neighbour, but as you can see, my review is objective.

99Home: Standard Property Letting £99 (£94.05 with 5% discount)

99Home is an online letting agent and estate agent that is has been operating since 2017. It is the only one of the online agents that I feature in this blog post which is a member of Propertymark.

They offer a package that is equivalent to OpenRent’s RentNow, with a dashboard to communicate with tenants, and advertising on Rightmove for one month on their standard package.

Pros of 99Home’s Standard Property Letting service

Here are the benefits of 99Home’s service:

• Advertising on Rightmove, Zoopla, and OnTheMarket
• 99Home’s Standard package offers everything that OpenRent’s RentNow service does, more or less, with the added benefit of one tenant referencing being included in the price. As OpenRent charge £20 for a tenant reference, this makes 99Home marginally more expensive (£5.05) than OpenRent
• Full tenancy creation including holding deposit, tenancy deposit, tenancy agreement with digital signature and collection of first months’ rent
• The price is not much more than OpenRent’s RentNow, and there’s a no frill advertising option of £29.
• The 5% discount code for readers of The Independent Landlord (TIL5) gives a discount of 5% off all additional services, such as inventories, gas safety certificates etc
• Optional rent collection for £20 per month
• Optional extra of hosted in-person viewings
• Telephone support by properly trained human beings
• All staff have Propertymark training, which shows the company is serious about compliance and providing a high quality service
• Landlords have transparency and can see which portal the tenant enquiry came from eg Rightmove or Zoopla

Cons of 99Home’s Standard Property Letting Service

This is the only drawback I have spotted with 99Home’s Standard Property Letting Service:

• 99Home do not currently offer landlords the ability to send automated messages when an applicant makes an enquiry, as per OpenRent. The landlord would need to do this manually.

Quicklister: Exposure £69 (£55.20 with discount code)

Quicklister is the least expensive option of the alternatives to OpenRent, but it’s more of an advertising service than a full tenancy creation service. They offer a less expensive basic service for £49, but that price does not include Rightmove.

In short, it’s suitable for more experienced landlords who just want to advertise on Rightmove, and are happy to handle the holding deposit, tenancy deposit and first rent payment themselves. Tenancy creation is an optional extra.

I’ve not used Quicklister myself, but I’ve had a long demo to see the features of the messaging facility and dashboard. It’s intuitive to use and is well designed.

Quicklister are part of Cocoon Estate Agents, an independent agency based in Surrey.

Pros of Quicklister’s Exposure advertising service

Here are the advantages of Quicklister’s Exposure advertising service:

• Advertising on Zoopla, PrimeLocation and OnTheMarket for six weeks. No Rightmove.
• It’s the cheapest option to advertise on Rightmove
• They have an online portal where landlords can receive enquiries, schedule viewings and communicate with tenants by receiving messages in the Quicklister inbox, which is on the dashboard, or to a preferred email
• User-friendly dashboard to manage multiple properties
• Easy to pause listings when an applicant is going through referencing, and relist if they fail referencing
• Credit checks and referencing are slightly cheaper than those from OpenRent (£19 versus £20) and are provided by Vouch from Goodlord
• Lower price point for landlords confident with creating their own tenancy agreements and arranging signature.
• Telephone support for landlords

Cons of Quicklister’s Exposure advertising service

Here are the downsides of Quicklister’s Exposure advertising service:

• Tenancy creation (agreement and signature) is an expensive extra – £99
• They do not handle money – they won’t take the holding deposit, tenancy deposit or the first rent collection. This means the landlord would need to feel confident about doing this themselves

Discount code for Quicklister’s Exposure advertising service

Quicklister offer a 20% discount off their Basic and Exposure packages for readers of The Independent Landlord.

The special discount code for readers of The Independent Landlord is: bmDUiB7p.

Visum: Rental Property Advertising Plus £94 (£74 with discount code)

Visum offer many of the features of OpenRent’s Rightmove service, but they do not handle money from tenants, making the service suitable for landlords who are comfortable with doing this themselves.

Here are the pros and cons of Visum’s Advertising Plus Service.

Pros of Visum’s Advertising Plus Service

Here are the advantages of Visum’s Advertising Plus Service:

• Advertising on Rightmove, Zoopla, PrimeLocation and OnTheMarket for three months (this is double the length of time of Quicklister’s advertisments)
• Email and phone support from human beings
• Online dashboard with ability to message tenants on the platform
• They create an assured shorthold tenancy agreement for landlords to save and print off for a “wet” signature.

Cons of Visum’s Advertising Plus Service

Here are the disadvantages of Visum’s Advertising Plus Service:

• They do not handle money, so the landlord will need to receive the holding deposit, tenancy deposit and first rent collection, and will need to register all the deposit and serve the prescribed information.
• The landlord will need to handle the compliance themselves, ie serve the latest How to Rent checklist, Gas Safety Certificate, EICR and EPC.
• The referencing and credit checks are £10 extra than Quicklister.

Discount code for Visum’s Advertising Plus Service with Rightmove

The special discount code for Visum’s Advertising Plus Service with Rightmove is: TIL1.