Is OpenRent safe?

Is OpenRent safe for tenants?

It is safest when you stay inside its own process. If the landlord uses Rent Now, you pay a holding deposit of one week’s rent by debit card to OpenRent, not to the landlord. OpenRent then collects the deposit and first month’s rent, protects the deposit with mydeposits, and releases the rent to the landlord ten days after you move in. The risk is money paid outside that route: OpenRent warns that a payment made straight to a landlord isn’t protected by Rent Now.

OpenRent explains the process on its Rent Now page and in its FAQ.

Does OpenRent check the landlord?

OpenRent says it has systems to verify that a landlord owns the property, and that landlords get a verified badge once they have set up a tenancy through Rent Now. It doesn’t say in detail how the check works, and it is a check on the landlord, not the home. Whether the property is safe, licensed or fairly priced is still for you to find out.

You can confirm it yourself: check who owns the property on HM Land Registry’s records, and compare the name with the person letting it.

What do OpenRent reviews say, and where can I read them?

OpenRent has thousands of reviews on Trustpilot, from tenants and landlords. Read the recent ones, and read the low scores as well as the high ones. Bear in mind what a review can tell you: it is about OpenRent’s service, its website, messages and payments. It says nothing about the particular home you’re looking at or the landlord advertising it, and those are where most of the risk sits.

For the home itself, run a free check on the address, and check who owns it before you pay.

How do OpenRent scams usually work?

Most rental scams work the same way on any site: a convincing listing, a rent a little below the area, and a reason to pay before you’ve seen the home or met the landlord. Watch for being moved off the site to WhatsApp or email, a landlord who is abroad and can’t show you round, pressure because ‘other people are interested’, and a request to pay by bank transfer. Fraudsters have also used fake websites that look like OpenRent, with a web address that is only slightly different.

In 2024 a newspaper investigation found a fraudster advertising someone else’s home on Facebook and taking payments through a fake OpenRent website. Before you pay, check the address bar says openrent.co.uk. More warning signs are in our rental scams guide.

What should I check before paying anything?

Check the home and the person as well as the platform. Most of these take minutes, and every one is easier before money changes hands.

• View the home in person, or send someone you trust, before you pay.
• Pay only through OpenRent’s own process, never to a bank account sent by message.
• Check the web address is openrent.co.uk before entering card details.
• Check the landlord owns the home, or can show they’re acting for the owner.
• Compare the rent with similar homes nearby. A rent well below the area is a reason to look harder.
• Check whether the home needs a council licence, and whether it has one.
• Read the contract before you sign, including any clauses the landlord has added.

Will I pay fees on OpenRent?

You shouldn’t, beyond the rent and the deposits the law allows. OpenRent says tenants pay no admin or contract fees, and the landlord pays for referencing. In England the Tenant Fees Act bans almost every other charge to tenants, including viewing, referencing and admin fees, and caps a holding deposit at one week’s rent.

The Tenant Fees Act guidance for tenants on GOV.UK lists the payments that are allowed.

What should I do if I think I’ve paid a scammer?

Call your bank straight away, using the number on your card, and ask them to stop or recover the payment. Then report it to Action Fraud and to OpenRent, so the listing can be taken down. Keep every message, advert and receipt.

Report fraud online or by phone through Action Fraud.

Is SpareRoom safe too?

The same logic applies. SpareRoom is a genuine site for rooms and flatshares, and the risks sit in the same place: listings that ask you to pay before a viewing, or to pay outside the site. Shared homes often need a council licence as well, which is worth checking before you move in.

The differences are in our SpareRoom vs OpenRent guide.