The new ‘lettings agent’s window’:Interface design and discrimination on online rental platforms

Accessing the private rented sector is now an almost exclusively online activity. In the UK 96% of renters found their property from one of the four leading online rental platforms: Rightmove, SpareRoom, Zoopla or Gumtree. How the interfaces of these platforms are designed can impact on access to the private rented sector and facilitate (or minimise) discrimination against users. This paper proposes a typology of interface design choices in online rental platforms, examining their role in structuring content, sorting existing content, and facilitating user interactions. Through a comparative analysis of 3,336 listings on a leading rental platform before-and-after changes to its interface, the paper reveals that even minor design alterations can significantly influence market accessibility for recipients of housing benefit and therefore reduce or worsen discrimination against certain user groups. The findings offer insights into combating discrimination in the digital rental market and provides a typology for analysing interface design choices at play on online rental platforms.