Is Rightmove the Amazon of the property sector?
Rightmove Landlord and Tenant Services has unveiled plans for its new ‘Rent in Five’ plan. It’s new lettings service direct to landlords will do much to take away significant market share away for lettings agents, in my opinion, writes Zah Azeem, Partner at Wimbledon based surveyors Scrivener Tibbatts.
Rightmove has acquired a minor competitor whose service aims to improve the lettings market for agents, landlords and tenants.
Christian Balshen, Rightmove’s Head of Lettings, is in charge of this major move into the residential lettings market. Their new five step plan links each part of the lettings process, from fining a new tenant to giving them the keys:
Rightmove’s Rent in Five process
1. Maximum leads from the UK’s biggest lettings audience
2. Automatic pre-qualification, including a credit check
3. Viewings bookable online
4. Fully managed references, ordered on one click
5. Tenancy documents automatically produced and completed.
Quoted here in Property Industry Eye Christian Balshen says: “A quality reference from a brand that landlords recognise and trust is a key component in our ambition to help agents find the right tenant, faster. Our research consistently shows that the most important thing for landlords is to find the right tenant, one who pays their rent on time and who doesn’t damage their property. Referencing and Rent Guarantee Insurance both play a crucial part in this.
“By using services provided by a recognised and trusted brand, we believe we can help agents give their landlords extra confidence that they’ll find the most suitable tenant.
“We’re building a flexible, end-to-end platform that links up the key stages of letting a property to help agents manage high volumes of leads more efficiently. Agents will be able to choose to receive pre-qualified tenancy leads, select pre-qualified tenants to book an appointment online (including CRM integration), book references in one click and automatically produce and complete all the relevant tenancy documents – all within Rightmove Plus.
“We’re here to help our letting agent customers grow their business in the most efficient way. We’ve got ambitious plans to help agents over the coming months and we’ll continue to share more updates to keep them informed of our plans. If you want to hear about our plans in more detail, feel free to drop me an email or speak to your Rightmove Account Manager.”
As I said, doesn’t that sound like to type of approach Amazon might take if they did property? It’ll only be a matter of time before they have a go, I’m sure.
You heard it here first!
If you would like to discuss something related to a property valuation please contact Zah Azeem, Partner, direct via email at zah@scrivenertibbatts.co.uk or call 020 8947 7040.
