A lettings listings website aiming to ‘cut out the middle man’ by matching tenants directly with landlords is looking to raise £35,000 through crowdfunding website Kickstarter.
The site, Letproof.com, claims that using an agent is outdated and costly and is now seeking funding to build an app, on top of its existing website, to help landlords list property and for tenants to search listings.
It claims that having an app would allow it to offer a “user-focused and user-friendly convenient experience”.
Letproof describes itself as ‘disrupting rental’ on its Kickstarter page and is seeking pledges from £10 to more than £750 in return for prizes ranging from a free listing to a place on its appreciation board and a phone call with the founder.
The proposition has been launched by Andrew Seymour, who also helped start co-living website The Collective London.
He said: “This is an exciting time for Letproof.com. We have a growing user base on our platform already, but we feel an app would truly accommodate the fast-paced lives of our users.”
It costs £75 for landlords to list their property and upload 25 images, but they have to arrange their own tenant referencing, deposit protection, tenancy agreements and inventory checks.
Landlords are directed to the Mydeposits scheme for deposit protection, while Letproof recommends tenant referencing service FLS.
A Letproof spokesperson told us: “This site is built to encourage transparency in rental so there are plans to introduce a rating system where tenants and landlords can rate each other, again encouraging best practice, community and informing future users.”
She added that there were more than 300 tenants and ten landlords currently registered, and said the site doesn’t receive any fees for referrals to external services.
Said it before and I will say it again…
Crowdfunding, when your bank says “Nah” and you have not got the confidence to use your own cash.
Anyway, I need some cash for a lads day out next week, gunna be a heavy one in the Casinos, anyone fancy “crowdfunding” me, I need £10k and the returns will be fantastic.
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Agreed but why, oh why is this news?
Ric – You can have my money any time but I will need a “small” arrangement fee.
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Oh yeah! Many landlords use agency because of the resources to vet and then manage the tenants (soon to be abolished by labour!). Many that don’t, fall foul of rogue tenants and this idea has a limited appeal to self managing landlords, many who will throw in the towel with all the new regulation and training they will need to self manage or sell.
ten landlords currently registered. Will be interesting to see how it grows and sustain a return to its investors based on its current income and business model. Not a hope? Facebook and twitter are by far cheaper and effective being used by private landlords.
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How can novice landlords deal with legal compliance and regulations.
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