An online letting agent is giving away free listings on Rightmove and Zoopla.
Landlords can take up the offer, regardless of whether they sign up to the firm’s management service, charged at 10%.
Landlords also get 12 months’ rent upfront, while tenants can choose to pay no fees, deposits and rent up-front. However, those that take this option pay an extra 10% on top of their rent over the course of their contract.
LetMe CEO Sam Wells said: “We’ve torn up the lettings industry, given it the Silicon Valley treatment and started again.
“We’ve turned an old, stale and cumbersome process into a fast, efficient and radical solution that puts money straight into the pockets of landlords.
“We’re the first agency in the UK to make letting property completely risk free and pay 12 months’ rent upfront. This is a game-changer.
“My advice to landlords is, either be a private landlord, or use us. Never use agents again.”
The firm, which launched last year, also offers free referencing of all tenants, and guarantees the condition of the property on the tenant’s departure. It says it never makes money out of maintenance.
A spokesperson told EYE: “LetMe makes money if the landlord chooses to sign up to the 10% full management package which includes the 12 months rent upfront and the property condition guarantee. However, landlords are under no obligation to rent through us in order to use the free listings service, although we do believe we have an excellent product.”
The firm, which belongs to ARLA and TPO, is backed by fin-tech entrepreneur James Benamor, owner of Amigo Loans, a guarantor lender.
Comments (12)
We are offering a revolutionary product whereby landlords can rent out their properties with a whole years rent upfront and no need for concern about rent arrears, evictions or damage to the property.
LetMe has already paid out over £5million in upfront rent to landlords who have chosen to go forward with our 10% full management service. At the end of the tenancy period we always return the property to the condition it was in when the tenant first moved in (minus fair wear and tear). We do this at no cost to the landlord, and we organise any repairs necessary.
Many hundreds of landlords are already enjoying the benefits of our 10% management service and we are expecting thousands to sign up for the free listings service.
LetMe does not issue loans to either tenant or landlord.
The question is how many tenants have left and required you to pay out on your promise, or is it that your still at the stage where tenants haven’t left so you have no idea what your costs are going to be. That is where your business model is high risk and possibly indefensible …. leaving you bankrupt sooner or later? Your 10% isn’t profit you have your overheads plus the free to pay before you even tackle putting a property back as it was. A couple of rouge tenants, as that is the type of landlord you will attract and bump!
It would be interesting to find out whether LetMe charge a commission on maintenance work since there’s no money in the pot. I’m guessing the 10% isn’t the only thing that you will need to pay out for…
Surely its all about the link to Amigo. If im not wrong this is a high interest lender that gives shortish term loans to those with a guarantor. So the tenant (with guarantor) takes out a loan with Amigo and there’s the 12 months up front. The guarantor also signs to say they will cover any issues on check out.
Strange that there’s so much scepticism in the comments.
This is a business focused in service rather than low fees.
Surely it’s just a variation on rent guarantee, which many lettings and management firms now realise is a real instruction winner.
I would personally look at doing this for my family’s agency. It’s more work, but potentially more reliable income and would help keep fees up.
Just my 2p.
It is based on a high risk poor business model. Low or no fees to bring in large numbers of customers but at a high risk to high costs to pay out.
This sounds too good to be true and therefore… etc etc
What a load of old baloney. This has been tried before and as marcH points out this is never a long term option. The industry will see changes over the next few years but hopefully not like this!!!
Well, well. If this cock-a-mamie scheme is so successful and 100 landlords rush to take up his offer of 12 months rent upfront, how long will his finances last ? At £1000 pcm that works out at £1.2m upfront. Good luck mate !
Yep, straight from the murky world of high interest and pay day loans, that’s exactly what tenants and landlords and the lettings industry in general were crying out for!
“Guarantees the condition of the property on the tenant’s departure”
This is a completely subjective matter.. let’s see how many landlords you keep when tenants haven’t looked after the property.
This claim in itself is a boast bordering on a lie?. Either that or they have more money than they can ever possibly take in to cover the costs for the expenditure they can expect to pay out with repairs. You simply cannot offer this service at the fee they charge and make a going concern of their business. They are no doubt using the well and truly tested numbers game (multiple landlords) to try and make it work. However as anyone who has tried this has found out … they go bust as you need multiples of ten to cover one poor tenant at least.
As for free listing , who on earth works for nothing! To recover those costs there has to be an income coming from somewhere … Amigo Loans?