Reach - Who sees the unit
Rightmove Commercial has the biggest audience of any UK property site, but the landlord rarely deals with it directly: listings arrive through agents, so its reach is part of the agent route. A letting agent adds their own database of applicants and local knowledge on top of the portals they feed. Boxpod reaches businesses that search a commercial-only marketplace and, importantly, businesses searching Google for a property type in a town - our listing pages are built to rank for exactly those searches, and the tenant traffic they bring is ours rather than an agent's.
The honest summary on reach: the agent route, fed into the big portals, reaches the widest audience; Boxpod reaches a smaller but tightly targeted one - businesses actively looking for a unit like yours - and the enquiries come to you, not to an intermediary. For a straightforward unit that targeted audience is usually what lets it.
Cost - What you actually pay
This is where the three routes separate. The agent route costs a letting fee on success - typically around 10% of the first year's rent plus VAT, with minimum fees and marketing costs common, and management fees of 5-10% of rent on top if you use them. Rightmove Commercial is not a separate cost to you; it is bundled into the agent's fee. Boxpod is a flat subscription from £12 a month for one listing (£25 for up to five, £45 for up to ten), nothing on success, cancel when it lets.
Worked example on a unit renting at £15,000 a year: the agent route commonly totals around £2,400 including VAT before the first rent payment; three months on Boxpod is £36. The full breakdown, including the small-print extras to watch for, is in what commercial letting agents charge.
Control and speed - Who does the work, and how fast
With an agent you hand over the work - enquiries, viewings, negotiation - and with it some control: you see the tenants the agent chooses to put forward, on the agent's timetable, and you are usually tied into a sole agency agreement for a period. With Boxpod you do the work and keep the control: the listing is live within minutes of creating it, you answer enquiries yourself (and tenants often prefer talking to the owner), you choose who to show the unit to, and you change the rent or the photos whenever you like.
Neither route changes the legal steps - you will use a solicitor for the lease either way, since agents do not draft leases. The step-by-step is in how to let a commercial property without an agent.
Using more than one - And when each wins
The routes are not exclusive. Plenty of landlords list on Boxpod and keep an agent instructed, or start direct and add an agent if the unit proves difficult. Two cautions: check whether your agency agreement grants sole letting rights (the agent is owed the fee whoever finds the tenant) or plain sole agency (you are free to find your own), and keep the listing details consistent across both.
When each wins:
- Boxpod - an ordinary unit, a landlord who can answer the phone, a budget that objects to a four-figure fee.
- An agent (and through them Rightmove Commercial) - large, unusual or high-value premises, multi-let schemes, a landlord who is remote or genuinely has no time, or a deal that needs professional negotiation.
- Both - a unit you want let quickly where you are happy to pay a fee if the agent gets there first, but want your own channel open too.