I'd feel more excited about something that comes up with a way to completely get rid of agents. In my opinion, services for letting should look at establishing

I'd feel more excited about something that comes up with a way to completely get rid of agents. In my opinion, services for letting should look at establishing a more transparent and direct operating channel between the tenants and landlords. The paperwork is generally standard. There are deposit protection schemes to protect the tenant's deposit. Landlords can directly get in touch with agencies that do reference checks and property damage checks before and after tenancy. This information can be made available on the app/website for those interested. If an app makes it easy enough to do all this, even for the not so tech-savvy (these are the types of landlords I've come across through agents), this letting agency menace can be gotten rid of altogether. I always thought this was the point of using the internet for property letting. Of course, my opinion is biased from the point of view of someone who has not had such a good experience with letting agents. I know openrent.co.uk is trying to head in that direction. Universities also have their own housing departments that put students in touch with prospective landlords who have registered with them at no cost at all to either party. Maybe employers/corporates could also start doing the same.