A deposit alternative company is calling on agents to help tenants save an average of £1,000 on up-front costs.
Flatfair chief executive Gary Wright is asking agents to consider helping hard-pressed prospective renters by offering his service’s No Deposit product alongside traditional cash deposits.
Wright says: “Everyone has suffered during the cost-of-living crisis – including landlords and tenants. Overall, flatfair tenants have saved over £40m in upfront move-in costs by opting for our lower upfront deposit costs of one-week’s rent plus VAT as opposed to the standard five-week traditional deposit. By doing this, our tenants save, on average, £1,000 on their upfront move-in costs.”
In his plea to agents, Wright cites digital mortgage lender Molo which recently claimed that nearly 60% of UK landlords have seen a rise in late rental payments, with average arrears amounting to £723. And he quotes the rental index provided by HomeLet to suggest that rents rose by an average 7.5% in 2023 with more likely to come this year.
Wright continues: “The maths is simple. The average number of arrears would be more than wiped out by the average saving of using our deposit alternative. It gives tenants a real cash boost at the start of a tenancy – at a time when moving costs are mounting up. flatfair’s deposit alternative also provides landlords with market-leading protection of up to 10 weeks, double that of a traditional deposit.
“As a company, we manage both traditional deposits and our deposit alternative. But when times are hard, as they are now, and everyone is less financially resilient, we think agents might welcome the opportunity to make life a little easier for their tenants by offering them the choice to reduce their upfront costs. Especially when there is no cost to them.”
He continues: “We are happy to manage all deposit options, but when 1 in 3 tenants are spending more than half their salary on rent, everyone should try to support tenants where possible. No Deposit is good for both tenants and landlords – it’s a ‘win-win,’ and we hope for everyone in the industry to see the advantages of helping others at no cost or risk to themselves.”
Last year flatfair announced it had integrated with The DPS, meaning it now works with all UK deposit schemes.
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Yes I completely agree we should help your company make an average of £300 per tenancy as a non refundable fee paid by the tenant, who is still liable to pay deposit deductions at the end of the tenancy. So if the tenant looks after the property and has no deductions they are better off in the cost of living crisis as they’re £300 lighter compared to paying a refundable deposit. Right, got it.
What utter rubbish.
Gary Wrong and another advertorial.😡
I would advise 'hard-pressed tenants' to go to my Council to see about their tenancy deposit bond scheme instead. I do not like these no-deposit schemes, I think they are more expensive for the tenant in the long run.
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