Open rent is a good advertising platform for private landlords BUT why oh why does OR keep trying to get tenants to place deposits before they have even seen the flat? It is madness and very bad policy. My advice to OpenRent is just stick to advertising!
They probably hope some LLs will accept the holding deposit and proceed with contract creation etc for the first who presses the button. They make £ from getting LLs onto their ecosystem just like agents make £ from commissions from tradesmen they use
Or just more prosaicly - how do OR know if tenant has done a viewing or not? I certainly wouldn’t organize these via OR platform I want to talk to them by 'phone first to avoid wasting time on viewings for unsuitable tenants.
Might be better if LL had to invite tenant to put down a holding deposit before they could do so, no doubt harder but not impossible to program that. OR line in the past has been LLs can just reject but they will consider. Tbh any tenant without the nouse to ask LL first before sending a deposit, even if they have done a viewing, is someone i really dont want due to their terrible comms skills, so it helps rule them out.
Best