New tracing service will locate 'missing' landlords

A new company has launched, providing information about home owners to anyone seeking that information – for example, property investors.

It will also enable letting agents to be able to locate and target landlords of both empty and let properties.

traceWise offers a tracing service to help find a property owner quickly. It provides an up to date set of contact information including names, addresses, telephone numbers and even mobile phone numbers.

Estate agency veteran Michael Day, of Integra Property Services, has been acting as a consultant to the company.

He stressed that the service is completely legal.

He said: “Obviously I can’t give away our intellectual property but we basically aggregate dozens of databases including Land Registry to get owner information.

“Lots of agents currently use the Land Registry to get an owner’s name and address but this information is often out of date, and traceWise are supplying additional information on over 75% of cases – names, addresses, telephone numbers (often including mobiles).

“It is all completely legal as it is what is called ‘consented data’ which is the criteria required to be met by the Data Protection Act requirements.

“We live in a world where people are freely consenting daily to giving their contact info. Have you ever read the terms and conditions pages on Amazon or Tesco, for example, when ordering?”

He added: “The days of putting rain forests of leaflets through doors, particularly where the target isn’t in occupation, are about to end.”

The cost is usually between £15 and £25 per trace, depending on the amount of data supplied and any volume discount. Traces that produce no data are not charged.

Day said the service is likely to be of particular interest to letting agents and others who find it difficult to identify and contact landlords of properties that are vacant or tenanted, as the owners themselves are not in occupation.

He said it can also be used by people searching for owners of abandoned or derelict properties.

Gavin Nathan is managing director of traceWise, which has been quietly trialling the product  amongst a few agents for the last 12 months.

He said: “Having fine-tuned our proposition to clients and established a foothold in the property market, we now plan to rapidly grow the business.”

Fellow director Juliette Chan said: “The traceWise service is of huge interest to estate and letting agents as it enables them to identify and contact potential clients in a highly targeted and professional fashion.
 
“The days of randomly dropping leaflets through doors, particularly in regards to letting property, is ending, and the ability to use a guided missile to hit a target rather than a scatter-gun approach is the way forward.”

She added: “External consultants Michael Day of Integra Property Services and leading business mentor Chelsey Baker have been working with us over the last year and are totally convinced that our products and services are revolutionising the way in which enlightened agents operate their businesses.”