'Flatmate-finder' website tempting agents with free listings

An online platform describing itself as a ‘matchmaker’ for prospective flatmates is temporarily offering letting agents free listings in a bid to boost its inventory.

Ideal Flatmate - “designed by Cambridge professors” according to its public relation spin-doctors, is based on an algorithm similar to that of dating websites and prioritises tenant compatibility in an effort to encourage long term rental relationships and tenancies.

The algorithm technology, which requires a prospective tenant to fill out a 20-question survey, focuses primarily on the living habits and sociability of users. 

“For landlords and letting agents it’s the perfect solution as the site is free to list and it offers a great opportunity to get more visibility in alternative areas of the market, particularly amongst tenants with the right intentions - in search of long term relationships which ultimately facilitates longer term contracts” says a spokesman for the site.

The free trial for landlords and letting agents applies to those operating in London, to which the service is restricted currently.

It claims that since a soft launch in November, the site has had more than 30,000 users, over 3,000 people registering and over 1,000 properties listed.

“We’ve had overwhelming positive feedback from letting agencies thus far. We recently heard from a letting agent who had a property listed on a well-known listing site for three weeks with no interest, he put it on our site and after two days had found a full group of tenants and a 12 month contract” claims a spokesman.