OnTheMarket extends free tenant referencing for some agents

OnTheMarket’s deal with a PropTech firm to provide free tenant referencing has been extended indefinitely for agents who pay the portal full membership fees.

The free-forever deal is the result of a partnership with Canopy, and has also been extended to those OTM agents who use a product from teclet, the PropTech firm which OnTheMarket itself owns.

Since the launch in July 2021, hundreds of OnTheMarket agent customers have signed up to receive free comprehensive tenant referencing from Canopy, including employment and landlord references, via Canopy’s RentPassport.  

This includes Experian credit, Know Your Customer, Anti Money Laundering and sanctions checks.

In a three-month pilot tested against other referencing services, Canopy says it was 84 per cent quicker to complete a comprehensive reference, with a full turnaround taking half a day.  

Earlier this week OnTheMarket revealed in a trading statement to shareholders that it had invested £350k in Canopy’s £3.5m fundraise last summer.

“I am really pleased to be extending our relationship with Canopy having received overwhelmingly positive feedback from agents since our partnership began last year” explains Jason Tebb, chief executive officer of OnTheMarket.

Providing our agents with this additional ongoing service free of charge supports our long-term aim of increasing the value we offer our customers, in line with our strategy of building a differentiated, technology-enabled property business.”  

And Chris Hutchinson, chief executive of Canopy, adds: “We are delighted to extend our partnership with OnTheMarket with our shared ambition of bringing innovation to the industry, using technology to benefit both agents and renters. 

“As one of our key strategic investors, we look forward to continuing to partner with OnTheMarket, as we build more value-add services to improve the renting process for all parties.”