Finding a tenant has never been so simple, back in the old days self managing landlords and letting agents would pay for an advert in the local paper. It worked but cost money and a few days delay before the advert was visible
Now with the age of the internet there are 3 main websites tenants use today
Rightmove
Open Rent
Gumtree
Everybody should be reasonably familiar with Rightmove, they are clearly the biggest and the best and because of this they charge a premium. Their business model though only caters for the estate agent/letting agent market
You cannot even have an account on Rightmove unless you are an agent
There are property listing websites that offer to list your property on Rightmove for a fee.
In our opinion this is not necessary as we feel tenants will find you without this unnecessary expense
OpenRent
OpenRent specializes in rented property. At the time of writing they are currently the biggest site exclusively renting residential property website in the UK
You are able to list properties for free and there’s a very good chance your next tenant will have used them in the past
Gumtree
Gumtree is losing popularity. Gumtree is still useful to some landlords as it is mainly used for bedsits and studio flats, it is the unofficial home of DSS properties
When we as landlords advertise properties that are suitable for the DSS we find much better response on Gumtree.
It is also free to list and there is no particular need to pay for the premium features
The letting fee ban has not fully sunk home with tenants, Gumtree users are still looking for private landlords as they do not wish to pay letting agent fees !
and finally RenterBall
As we are relatively new, you could not expect the tenant to know of our website so when you list an advert on RenterBall do not think that’s enough, you should also advertise elsewhere
“Why should you list an advert on RenterBall then, if it’s not going to find me any tenants? ”
The listing and advert function isn’t designed to find you tenants, its purpose is to initiate your first interaction with a tenant by having them apply on your advert.
It unlocks their profile therefore you are able to read their feedback and read a bit about their circumstances
If a tenant applies via Rightmove or OpenRent there is no profile or feedback
Therefore we highly recommend you do the following
1: Post advert on RenterBall (FREE)
2: Post advert as usual say on OpenRent or Gumtree or both.
Mention in the advert that for a person to apply they need to
1: Go onto RenterBall and look up the advert’s unique reference number
2: Click apply
3: and then wait to be contacted if they are suitable
You could include the following sentence in your advert that can help explain RenterBall to new tenants
For Gumtree
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(As gumtree removes direct links in advert) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We are using RenterBall to vet tenant applications
If you wish to have a viewing you have to go through them. We want to greatly reduce the number of viewings, for your safety, and ours
New users
It only takes a few minutes to set up an account and next time you wish to apply on an advert you can simply login and apply
You are welcome to contact us to discuss the property but you can only proceed with the application stage via RenterBall dotcom
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New users Guide
1: Login using Google or Facebook on RenterBall dotcom
2: Complete your profile and then open a Tenant Page
3: Then navigate to the home page and in the search property box search use the following reference
unique reference code: ................
This should navigate you directly to the advert posted on RenterBall dotcom
4: Click apply on the advert
5: If you are suitable the Landlord will phone you
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For OpenRent
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We are using RenterBall.com to vet tenant applications
If you wish to have a viewing you have to go through them. We want to greatly reduce the number of viewings, for your safety, and ours
New users
It only takes a few minutes to set up an account and next time you wish to apply on an advert you can simply login and apply
You are welcome to contact us to discuss the property but you can only proceed with the application stage via RenterBall.com
-------
New users Guide
1: Login using Google or Facebook on RenterBall.com
2: Complete your profile and then open a Tenant Page
3: Then navigate to the home page and in the search property box search using the following reference
unique reference code: ................
This should navigate you directly to the advert posted on RenterBall.com
4: Click apply on the advert
5: If you are suitable the Landlord will phone you