Online lettings operation woos landlords with sub-£40 deal

A relaunched online lettings agency operation is offering lettings listings deals to landlords from £39.50.

The little known Essex-based Griffin Property Co has now rebranded as the failed online giant Emoov and says it wants to operate across the UK.

The purchase of the Emoov brand was actually made by Griffin back in May but now it has launched its newly rebranded online platform after what it calls “months of dedicated work to enhance the user experience and streamline the customer journey.”

Founded in 2010 by Russell Quirk - then a digital pioneer, now a PR company owner - the original Emoov agency claimed to have sold 4,500 properties worth a total of £1 billion by 2015.  

In 2018 it acquired both Sarah Beeny’s online sales platform Tepilo and lettings website urban.co.uk to create a business worth (according to those involved in it) some £100m. It was backed by shareholders including Channel 4 and Northern & Shell .

On the lettings side, urban was already considered an effective business by the time of the Emoov takeover, with turnover reported to have been some £350,000 annually. 

However by late 2018 Emoov was known to be in trouble financially, despite engaging in what turned out to be a controversial crowdfunding exercise. In December 2018 it entered administration after apparently “running out of money.”

The name was resuscitated the following year by digital company Mashroom and it remained a low profile online operation running lettings and sales - until the Gridfin deal to buy the brand name surfaced in Nay this year.

Griffin originated back in 2000 as a traditional bricks and mortar agency in Southend-on-Sea, hitting problems some years later and then returning in the late 2010s as online sales and lettings services. It was relaunched - still as Griffin - as recently as 2022 but now it claims to be “a leading online estate agency.”

But a statement this week says: “Rebranding to Emoov reflects our dedication to providing a modern and efficient service in the competitive online estate agency market. While our name has changed, our core values remain the same. We continue to operate as a small family business, focused on building lasting relationships with our clients.” 

It claims to enable sellers to market their property on all major UK portals from only £295 in advance or £795 no sale, no fee.