WhatsApp explained
Your tenants are already on WhatsApp. Your agency probably isn’t — not properly.
Most agencies “do WhatsApp” on someone’s personal phone. That’s convenient until a staff member leaves, a deposit dispute needs evidence, or the ICO asks where tenant data lives. This page explains what WhatsApp Business actually is, what it costs, and how Lanten connects it to your inbox.
Personal vs Business
They look the same on a phone. They are not the same thing.
WhatsApp (personal)
The app on your negotiator’s phone. Tied to their personal number and their handset. Messages live on that phone, back up to their iCloud or Google account, and leave with them when they do. Meta’s terms don’t allow it for business use.
WhatsApp Business
A number that belongs to the agency, with a verified business profile — name, address, hours, website. Messages are the company’s record, not an individual’s. It comes in two forms, and the difference matters (below).
Why agencies switch
What changes when the agency, not the negotiator, owns the WhatsApp.
Applicants and buyers message from the Rightmove listing, the board, the website. A reply within minutes on WhatsApp beats an email the next morning, and it’s the channel most under-40s prefer.
On the Business Platform every message is stored by the agency, timestamped, searchable and exportable — a record you can produce in a deposit dispute, a complaint or a tribunal. A screenshot from someone’s personal phone is not.
Staff change. On a personal number the conversation history, the contacts and the relationship go with them. On a business number, nothing does.
Every WhatsApp lands in the same shared inbox as email, assignable to whoever’s free — no more “it’s on Dan’s phone and he’s on viewings”.
Tenant and landlord data on personal devices is a data-protection problem waiting to happen. A business number with UK-hosted storage and a retention policy is one you can explain to the ICO.
A verified business profile and, once approved, the Meta-verified tick. Tenants know it’s the agency, not a scam.
App vs Platform
WhatsApp Business comes in two forms. The free app on a phone is fine for a sole trader. An agency with a team needs the Platform.
What it costs, and the 24-hour rule
The part nobody explains clearly. Every message your agency sends costs pence; the 24-hour window decides whether you can write freely or must use a template.
Messages people send you are free. Every message your agency sends — a reply, a confirmation, a template — is charged by Meta per message. Replies used to be free inside the 24-hour window; from 1 October 2026 they’re charged at the same rate as utility templates. Budget on the assumption that everything outbound costs a few pence.
When someone messages you, a 24-hour window opens in which you can write whatever you like, and every reply from them re-opens it. Outside that window — you want to message someone who hasn’t written to you today — WhatsApp requires an approved template. The window no longer changes what you pay; it decides what you’re allowed to send.
Pre-approved message formats with fillable fields: “Your viewing at {{property}} is confirmed for {{time}}.” Meta approves the wording once; you send it as often as you need. Utility templates (confirmations, reminders, updates) cost the same per message as a free-form reply; marketing templates cost more.
UK utility rate, which now covers replies as well as templates: roughly £0.02–0.03 per message. Marketing templates: roughly £0.04–0.06. A 300-door agency sending a few hundred messages a week typically spends £30–60 a month — Meta’s charge, passed through at cost on your Lanten invoice with no mark-up.
To use the Platform your agency needs Meta Business verification — proof the company is real (Companies House number, website, a document). It takes a few days. Lanten walks you through it and sits as your Business Solution Provider.
An existing WhatsApp Business App number can be migrated to the Platform. A personal number can be moved too, but we’d suggest a fresh agency number instead — you want the number in the business’s name from the start.
Templates Lanten ships with
Pre-approved, pre-filled from your CRM, sent with one click.
Lanten ships with agency templates already approved, fills the fields from your CRM, and suggests the right one when a message falls outside the window. You can add your own; approval usually takes a day.
Also worth knowing
The questions that come up on every demo.
Cold outreach on WhatsApp — a marketing blast to your landlord list — needs opt-in and a marketing template. Meta polices this hard; low-quality sends get your number rate-limited. Use it for people who already deal with you.
Anyone can reply “stop”. Lanten records it and won’t send templates to that number again. Keep a line about WhatsApp in your privacy notice.
Not supported on the Platform. That’s a feature: every conversation is one-to-one and on the record.
All come through into the inbox and stay attached to the conversation — and to the property record when synced to your CRM.
WhatsApp calls to a Platform number aren’t supported yet. Your profile shows your office number for that.
Landlords, solicitors and contractors mostly still email. That’s why both channels sit in the same inbox rather than WhatsApp replacing anything.
