You don’t have full control of the letting process, namely:
- You have to use MyDeposits rather than choose your own deposit scheme.
- Deposits are not kept in your MyDeposits account but in OpenRent’s account (see here)
- You might find yourself unable to evict using S21 when OpenRent refuse to sign an N215 (see here)
- You sign paperwork before tenant pays first month’s rent and deposit which, for me and many others, introduces too great an element of risk for the LL.
- Issues with holding deposits (see above)
More troubling is that issues 2-5 are ones that customers have only discovered inadvertently either when they run into an issue or they notice that something has been changed. OR has been notorious over the last year in changing it’s policies without informing any of its customers. The recent break with RightMove is the current case in point. So, while Rent Now might be all fine and dandy for you now, who knows what might be different in the future. Judging on their track record, OR are simply not going to inform you if they change part of the Rent Now process.