OnTheMarket have recently launched their first phase of access and inclusion updates. This is great news: it's a sign of a tanker turning or a snowballing starting to roll down a hill or the ushering in of a new zeitgeist... you get my drift. It's big news for older and disabled renters, who've been ignored and marginalised for too long. I've felt OTM's engagement and motivation on levelling the playing field since first speaking with CEO, Jason Tebb - who listened to my introduction and said, quite simply, "Yes, we're on board." In fact, they already had designs in progress.
Their updates are a clever use of technology as a stepping stone towards increasing focus within the industry and making the property search process more inclusive. They deserve explanation, because changing the whole property sector to pass "
the 3am test" so that we level the playing field as far as the process of searching for and filtering properties with accessible features is a huge nut to crack. It requires an understanding of the circular relationship of Property Portals, CRM platforms and Letting Agents. Everyone has to make updates for change to happen. And in such a potential stand-off position, it takes leaders to say "let's do this."
As you can see from the image below, OTM's first phase of updates features an "Accessible Features" search option. This filter takes into account homes that have characteristics required by individuals with mobility needs such as ramped access, wide doorways, wet-rooms, wheelchair accessible parking, lift access as well as a list of several more features which we’ll continue to expand. The information is taken from the information that the Estate Agents provide when they upload the property listings - remember, OTM is a portal and isn't responsible for the information that's uploaded.
