Online agent Upad is to start charging landlords once the tenant has signed the contract.

The firm launched UPay on Success last year, when the fee was payable once a tenant had been identified and the referencing process started.

Founder and chief executive James Davis said he had now taken the service a step further.

Landlords will pay £449 including VAT for the service, which includes Rightmove premium listing, photography and compliance-proof paperwork, once the tenant has signed along the dotted line.

Landlords, who have a range of payment options with Upad, pay nothing upfront with this offering which involves Upad listing the property exclusively for four weeks.

As part of the overhaul to the product, Davis said that complex caveats had been removed, with remaining terms and conditions clear and straightforward.

Currently, tenants pay the cost of their referencing, but a spokesperson told us that Upad will be complying with the letting fees ban.