Hi all! I’m just listing my first property on Openrent having previously used an agent, however I am a little confused about the “rent now” button. I believe once a tenant clicks this, it will take a holding deposit, but I’m worried that they will be able to hit “rent now” and pay a holding deposit before viewing etc. Can anybody advise please?
This is the eternal problem. Yes they can, the best thing is to advise them not to in you first correspondence. It’s not a massive issue if they do, it can be cancelled, just a faff.
You should tell openrent that this is pants. (They will reply with some nonsense about making it easy blah blah blah). It’s ultimately to try to generate more profit as it gets tenant and landlord entwined with OR. I don’t use rent now.
Thanks, that’s really helpful. Is it maybe possible to do the middle package (ultimate advertising) then add contract drafting etc later?
I can already hear the attitude of the potential tenant who hits “rent now”, pays a holding deposit and expects that it guarantees them the property regardless of credit and affordability etc!
Yep - you can 100% do that. Buying the package up-front is cheaper, but you can add Rent Now later no problem.
We make it very clear to the tenant that the steps are to view the property → agree details with the landlord → request holding deposit:
The tenant must also confirm the following before requesting to place a holding deposit:
And finally, if a tenant does ignore our warning and tries to place a holding deposit without your permission, you are able to cancel it with a simple click on the site. There are options if the tenant isn’t suitable vs. you aren’t ready for them to place a holding deposit yet. Your advert is not impacted at all by a tenant doing this.
If you do run into issues, or the options aren’t clear, you can contact us anytime here for specific guidance, or feel free to post here on the forum if you’re happy with it being public.
Thanks!
Tenants like big red buttons, they just cant help themselves 
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I had one tenant who did press that button and it then became a bit of a fight between us, I don’t know why openrent do it. Along with voice messages, these are the two features I think they should abandon. Having said that, on my last letting nobody hit the red button (had 87 enquiries)
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