An auction site for the UK lettings industry is launching this month, ahead of an expected launch by a US competitor.
LetsBid4Lets will launch to agents at an event at the Shard in London on Thursday, June 29 – despite the fact that it is still fund-raising.
LetsBid4Lets claims to offer the first bidding software solution for the lettings industry in the UK. Pre-referenced tenants will be able to use the service, white-labelled on agents’ websites, to bid for a rental property.
A similar service for landlords, Rentberry, launched in the US last year and now lists around 100,000 properties on its site and claims to have over 50,000 users.
However, while Rentberry cuts out letting agents, describing itself as a price negotiation platform for landlords and tenants, LetsBid4Lets specifically operates through letting agents.
Rentberry has said it will launch in the UK later this year.
The idea of tenants bidding for properties is not new and appears to have been a proposition biding its time for Spencer Rose, CEO and founder of Letsbid4lets, who now clearly feels its day has come.
He previously set up AuctionLets in 2011. According to Companies House, he set up Letsbid4lets in 2012, and AuctionLets changed its name to that in February this year.
EYE reported almost two years ago that AuctionLets was looking for investors, with Rose saying that the site had been tested with “great results”.
He says of the forthcoming event at the Shard: “Letting property via auction is something that hasn’t yet happened, but at LetsBid4Lets we feel it’s the next logical step in the evolution of auctions and property rentals, with letting agents, landlords and tenants alike all set to benefit.”
He said LetsBid4Lets aims to help agents let their properties. It can be used as a stand-alone marketing tool or in conjunction with traditional marketing methods.
LetsBid4Lets will provide the letting agents with software that enables them to list a landlord’s rental property in an auction format.
All prospective tenants will be pre-referenced before bidding by FCC Paragon. The references will have a shelf life of 60 days so if tenants do not win one property, they can bid for another.
LetsBid4Lets said it is in the process of raising significant funding to help market its business.
It already has the backing of City figure Anthony Codling who will be speaking at the Shard event alongside proptech specialist James Dearsley.
Is there a need of this? If not its a flop. We have no need as we like to check our own tenants and have them queuing up so why expose our clients to a price war which will either be, “try and get it low” which is wasting my time and not paying the going rate or over bidding which results in all rents going sky high becoming unaffordable and increase in rent arrears. Not welcome. If someone in government gets their way, Rent Capping is on the horizon and makes a nonsense of this venture. Ill thoughtout, another hairbrained idea to dupe investors, while someone takes the salary?
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We’ve already tried this and it doesn’t work. If you market rent at a low starting price expecting Tenants to bid on the property, they will only offer the asking price… i.e. the lowest they can get away with. It’s a flawed concept. Why would Landlords accept less rent in a heavily taxed industry?
NB: the council are already doing this, with their social housing. Not a new idea and a completely flawed concept.
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