Guide On How Landlord’s Should Advertise Rentals On Gumtree

Overview: Gumtree’s Property Advertising for Landlords

Service	Notes / Includes	Price
Service	Notes / Includes Advertising Rental Properties Gumtree for Free 100% free – Ads will be live for 60 days. Once the ad’s run-time is up, you’ll receive an email notice that your ad is about to expire. You can apply a “Bump Up” at any time to reset its clock. Suitable for advertising single-lets, HMOs and house shares One of the UK’s most popular classified website – lots of active tenants looking for acommodation. Various packages available to “Make your ad stand out” for extra exposure	Price Free	Visit Website

How Gumtree performs nationally for rental enquiries

Just a quick caveat before we kick it off.

I’m not entirely sure how Gumtree performs geographically, but I know from personal experience that it’s an extremely powerful marketing tool for properties with in London and surrounding counties E.g Essex, Hertfordshire.

I imagine it’s just as effective nationally, but I can’t confirm. Either way, it’s worth a try wherever you are. Did I mention it’s free?

How to find Tenants on Gumtree

As with any marketing approach, there are specific steps and principles to follow that will likely yield better results.

So here are my key recommendations for utilising Gumtree to promote your rental property and discover your next tenants:

1) Be vigilant – Gumtree is notoriously full of scammers!

If you’re going to take heed of any of my recommendations, I urge for it to be this one!

I can personally attest to how effective Gumtree can be for landlords – the enquiries can flow in thick and fast. However, admittedly, the quality of the leads can often be questionable, as Gumtree is notoriously full of scammers and chancers. Out of every 10 enquiries, only one might prove suitable.

The reality is that Gumtree’s peer-to-peer trade setup facilitates the operation of rogue traders on both ends. Moreover, the direct interaction between tenants and landlords often attracts lower-tier applicants with poor credit, applicants whom most letting agents would swiftly eliminate (which is often why they end up looking on Gumtree). The concern lies in the hope that these applicants encounter less vigilant landlords.

But don’t get it twisted, there are also plenty of good and genuine people on Gumtree looking to be the perfect tenant. Nonetheless, exercising due diligence and caution is crucial. A good starting point is to use something like OpenRent’s standalone comprehensive referencing service:

Supplier	Notes	Price
Supplier	Notes / Includes Comprehensive Reference 3-5 Working Days (on average) Rent Guarantee Insurance Eligible Credit Check Linked Address, Identity & Fraud Information CCJs, Decrees, and other court information Right to Rent Check and Advice Affordability Rating Previous Landlord Reference Employers Reference Bankruptcy data Electoral Roll check Alias name search View sample report	Price £20 Inc VAT	More Info

Please note, I try my best to keep the information of each service up-to-date, but you should read the T&C's from their website for the most up-to-date and accurate information.

I also highly encourage you to read my guide on referencing tenants the right way, as it can help with separating the wheat from the chaff.

2) Scope out the local competition

First things first, you need to see how other landlords are marketing their property. It’s dog eat dog out there.

Before creating a campaign, search the website for similar properties in the same area to your own. Find out what the going rates are and how much competition you have. If you’re overpriced, don’t expect many enquiries.

3) Upload images, and make them banging!

No-brainer, but you need images, period. It blows my mind when I see adverts without them.

If you were looking for a rental property, would you bother applying to an advert without images? Probably not.

Images will avoid wasting time (and believe you me, there’s a whole lot of scope for time-wasting if you allow it). A prospective tenant will know what to expect before viewing the property if they have seen pictures of the kitchen, bedroom and exterior- so they’re already interested. A tenant that hasn’t seen pictures isn’t necessarily interested in the property before seeing it, so the success rate will become intensely lower.

Including high-quality pictures right from the start of the advert is crucial; refrain from adding them later, as this may lead to a significant loss of initial engagement.

Consider these additional tips for showcasing your property through images:

• Capture Key Areas
  Prioritizse areas that potential tenants find most important, such as the front of the house, the kitchen, and a bedroom. These visuals provide a well-rounded view of the property.
• Highlight Well-Maintained Spaces
  Ensure that the areas photographed are well-maintained and presentable. Clean and tidy spaces are more appealing to prospective tenants.
• Showcase Natural Light
  Whenever possible, capture images during daylight hours to showcase the property in natural light. Well-lit spaces are more inviting and give a positive impression.
• Include Exterior and Interior Shots
  Provide a mix of exterior and interior shots to give a complete visual representation. Exterior images help potential tenants get a feel for the overall property.
• Highlight Unique Features
  If your property has unique features, ensure they are captured in the photos. This could include a beautiful garden, a stylish fireplace, or any distinctive architectural elements.
• Professional Presentation
  Present your property in a professional manner. Clear, well-composed photos contribute to a positive first impression and reflect the care you put into advertising your rental.

If you’re worried about your ability to capture high-quality photographs due to a lack of equipment and/or skills, you might consider using a professional property photography service. These services typically cost around £100 (not terribly expensive), and the added benefit is that you can reuse the images for future advertisements, provided they accurately represent the property.

In my opinion, it’s a worthwhile investment because pictures play a crucial role in generating enquiries and will almost certainly impact the volume of responses you’ll receive.

4) Get the description right

Try to give away as much details as possible in your description. Again, this will avoid wasting time. Here are a few key features that I put in my descriptions:

• How many bedrooms there are
• Size of bedrooms
• allocated spaces and/or garage space
• who is responsible for bills
• condition of property (be accurate)
• whether there is a garden
• double glazing
• Flooring plan- room measurements

5) Don’t provide your phone number as a means of contact

Gumtree allow users to receive enquiries by email and/or phone alerts. However, I strongly recommend avoiding phone alerts, meaning you should refrain from providing your contact number. If you share your phone number, it becomes visible to other Gumtree users. On the other hand, your email address will remain anonymous, and all communication will be conducted through the Gumtree message centre.

6) Use a descriptive title

Ensure your advert has a meaningful title. Something as follows is USELESS: “property for rent.”

Instead, consider incorporating the road name, town/city, and cost, like “2 bedroom house Church Road, Marlow (£760 pcm)”

This approach attracts more targeted traffic. Given Gumtree’s open search box, users often search for specific locations. By making your title keyword-rich with the relevant location, such as “Marlow,” your advert will likely appear in the search results, optimising its visibility.

7) Check your advert once live

Gumtree ads don’t always go live immediately; based on my experience, it usually takes a couple of hours. You should receive an email informing you when your your ad goes live to the site.

Once it’s live, make sure all the details are correct.

Other recommended platforms to find tenants for free

Even though using Gumtree as sole lead driver can be capable of doing the job (i.e. finding tenants quickly), I’d personally still always utilise multiple marketing platforms.

So this is the part where I recommended a couple of other options – including one that will get your property listed on Zoopla & PrimeLocation (yes, for free!) – where landlords can generate enquires without spending a dime (understandably, most landlords choose to advertise on Gumtree for its cost-effectiveness, so I won’t recommend websites that charge exorbitant fees – ’cause that wouldn’t make sense).

Free marketing platforms for Landlords (to find tenants)

Service	Notes / Includes	Price
Agent	Notes / Includes Advertise Zoopla & PrimeLocation for Free *5 day free trial, and no obligations to continue once expired. Once the trial ends, to continue advertising it costs £39 for new customers and £49 for returning customers for 3 months service (still totally reasonable) Zoopla listing PrimeLocation listing No hidden fees, no credit card details required to start trial Plenty of additional services available at very reasonably prices (e.g. tenant referencing, EPCs, Professional photography etc.)	Price Free Trial No Obligations	Try Free Trial
Service	Notes / Includes Advertise on Facebook Marketplace for Free 100% free Very popular classified section on Facebook – access the entire Facebook community! No need to register, just setup advert through your existing Facebook account.	Price Free	Visit Website
Service	Notes / Includes Advertise on SpareRoom for Free 100% free Best place to list for HMOs, shared accommodation and lodgers Very popular classified website specifically for renters & landlords Reasonable fees for “Bold Ads” for extra exposure (from £10.99 for 1 week)	Price Free	Visit Website

For a more complete guide, you may want to hop over to my guide on how to find tenants for free.

If you have any questions or want to share your personal experience with using Gumtree (as a landlord or tenant), please feel free to drop a comment below!

Landlord out xo