Andrews Property Group has agreed a new partnership with deposit alternative firm flatfair.
Andrews will now be able to offer their customers both traditional deposits and flatfair’s No Deposit solution across all of their UK branches.
Group Letting director for Andrews, Angharad Trueman, said: “We are excited to embark on this journey with flatfair and offer this as an alternative to our fantastic landlords and tenants across the group.
“The uncertain economic times we are living in mean it’s more important now than ever that landlords can receive 10 weeks protection on their rental property, but that we also provide a choice to renters. For a tenant, utilising flatfair means the ability to move without having to find the money for a five-week deposit upfront when they still have a five-week deposit locked away from their previous home.
“This aligns well with our strategic aim of becoming the most trusted and admired in the property sector, providing our landlords with more protection and enabling tenants to access housing faster.”
flatfair CEO, Gary Wright, added: “Andrews’ success in the rental industry is unquestionable, with very few rivalling their experience and reach and we are all very excited to be working with the Andrews team.”
Comments (8)
Deposit alternative schemes have been around for the better part of a decade. The reason they haven’t taken off?… because landlords prefer tenants to show an upfront commitment to taking care of their property i.e. a traditional deposit.
If offered the choice, a landlord will 99% go with a traditional deposit over a deposit replacement scheme.
This is a purely commission based move. Those harping on about “tenants need choice”… well a landlord needs security. In the current market, there is no shortage of tenants who are willing to put up a traditional deposit (which they get back in full if there are no issues).
99% is clearly not the case as many thousands of properties are already offered with a no deposit option, all with the agreement of their landlord, as they understand that they will receive the same or in most cases more protection than with a traditional cash deposit combined with fast payouts and generally a high quality service. They also understand that tenants still need to pass all the same reference and associated checks before they can be offered the choice so there is no impact on tenant quality at all.
Deposit alternatives do provide landlords security so giving tenants choice is a win win. You say there are no shortage of tenants willing to put up a cash deposit but in reality they have no choice, unless of course they want to be homeless, so it is not a question of being willing !!
Call me a cynic but this has nothing to do with choice and everything to do with income generation. For every tenant that takes the no deposit option Andrews Property Group will be paid a commission. I wonder if they will be declaring this to those that take this option.
Cynic ! With or without commission this is still important choice and if tenants don’t want the option (and I doubt that knowing their agents is being paid a small commission would change their choice) they are still able to just leave the 5 weeks deposit.
Great move, tenants deserve choice, not sure why so many agents/landlords still insist on forcing already financially stretched tenants to find 5 weeks cash deposit upfront, especially when all the stat’s show tenants who choose a no deposit option, actually behave better as they know they are still liable for any charges when they leave. Surely choice has to be a good thing, certainly in the US they think with many states now passing laws that require landlords to offer an alternative. Only a matter of time here as well?? Until then well done Andrews, at least a few more tenants are now being given this important choice.
Can’t afford it? No problem, have it anyway. This isn’t a new scheme, I know that part of Connells have offered something similar for a few years and its caused nothing but misery for those clients who have then come to me. Given that that is who I work for, I will not be promoting this!
An insurance basically? Yeah, they love paying out. Good luck to any landlord that ends up with a tenant on this scheme!
I insist with all agents a full deposit and a property owning guarantor, after all your handing over a property worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.