OpenRent review from a landlord

In this post, I’ll give my honest review of using OpenRent as a landlord. Before moving to OpenRent I was paying PurpleBricks £2,160 per year to manage my flat and before that a similar amount to Winkworth. Both of them did such an appalling job that I started to look into self-managing.

That research led me to OpenRent and I’ve now been an OpenRent customer for 6 months. My costs have been cut from £2,160 to £49 and if my tenants renew then subsequent costs are zero. I’ve described below my experience of using the “Rent Now” service and commented on other OpenRent services I may consider in the future.

How I’ve used OpenRent

Moving to OpenRent with tenants

If like me you already have tenants and just want to transfer to OpenRent’s platform then the first thing you need to do is speak with your tenants. After I spoke with mine they were happy to make the change as they too had lost patience with PurpleBricks’s awful customer support.

I then gave notice to my tenants (via PurpleBricks) and created a new contract for them through OpenRent. The deposit was also refunded and then sent to OpenRent.

OpenRent services I’ve yet to try

OpenRent fees

Aside from the optional services I have described above, the core service “Rent Now” costs £49 (this is all I use). As mentioned at the beginning of this post, this is a one-off charge so no renewal fee like many letting agents charge. If you really wanted to cut costs, then you could download OpenRent’s AST for free but you’ll not have many of the “Rent Now” features such as digital signatures.

Final OpenRent review summary

OpenRent’s technology has been well thought through and they strike me as a well-run company. Their pricing is competitive due to a technology-centric approach which means low operating costs.

This gives them a distinct advantage over the inefficient high street agents. The letting agent business model has been broken for a long time, so I’m glad OpenRent is available for landlords and only wish I’d made the move sooner. If you have any questions or comments about my OpenRent review then please leave them below.