Rightmove alerts take a minute to set up and, for most renters, they are the first thing that goes wrong. The email version — even on the "Instantly" setting — is sent in batches rather than the moment a listing appears, each email shows only a selection of what matched, and nothing on Rightmove tells you about the flat a landlord put on OpenRent or the room that only exists on SpareRoom. This guide covers how to set Rightmove alerts up properly on the website and the app, how the timing actually works, what the alerts miss, and how to be notified within minutes across six portals instead — which is what decides who gets the viewing in London, Manchester or Bristol.
How to Set Up Rightmove Alerts
On the website:
- Go to rightmove.co.uk and run a search for the area, budget, bedrooms and property type you want. Use the radius control on the results page — the alert inherits exactly this search, so a radius that is too tight is the most common reason alerts later "miss" properties.
- On the results page, choose the option to create an alert (Rightmove also phrases it as saving the search). You will be asked to sign in or create a free MyRightmove account.
- Choose how often you want the email. "Instantly" is the fastest option Rightmove offers; the others are digests, from daily down to weekly. Pick "Instantly" — the digests are useless in a market where good properties go in a day.
- Manage everything later under the alerts and saved-searches area of your MyRightmove account, where you can change the frequency, pause an alert or delete it.
In the app:
- Install the Rightmove app and sign in to the same MyRightmove account.
- Save the same search, then allow notifications when the app asks — and check your phone's own settings for the Rightmove app if nothing arrives (see the fixes further down).
- Push notifications are the faster of Rightmove's two channels, so treat email as the backup and the app as the primary alert.
That is all Rightmove offers. What it does with the alert once it exists is where the problems start.
How Rightmove Alerts Actually Work
Rightmove processes an enormous number of saved searches, and alerts are queued and dispatched in cycles rather than sent as each property is uploaded. The frequency labels describe the minimum gap between emails, not a promise of speed: "Instantly" means Rightmove will not wait a day before telling you, not that you hear the moment the listing goes live. Renters frequently report a gap of hours — sometimes longer — between a property appearing on the site and the email landing, and Rightmove does not publish how often the batches run or when. There is no fixed send time and no schedule to plan around; two people with identical searches can receive the same listing at different times. We go through the timing in detail in when Rightmove sends email alerts.
There is a second limit that catches people out. When a saved search matches a lot of new properties, the alert email shows a selection of them and notes the total; the rest can arrive in a later email, adding another cycle of delay. Rightmove does not publish how that selection is made. For a broad search in a busy area, some new listings can reach your inbox well after the first wave of enquiries has already gone in.
App Notifications vs Email
The Rightmove app's push notifications are usually quicker than the batched emails, and if you are relying on Rightmove's own tools they are the single most effective improvement you can make. They are still dispatched by Rightmove's systems rather than the instant an agent uploads a listing, so they are faster, not real-time.
They also share the bigger limitation with email: they only know about Rightmove. Anything that appears elsewhere first — or only elsewhere — never triggers them.
What Rightmove Alerts Don't Cover
No single portal lists every available rental, and the gaps are not random:
- OnTheMarket advertises "Only With Us" properties that it says appear on its site 24 hours or more before they are advertised on Rightmove or Zoopla. A Rightmove alert cannot fire until the listing reaches Rightmove.
- OpenRent is the UK's largest landlord-direct platform. Landlords on its free tier advertise on OpenRent alone, so those properties never appear on Rightmove at all.
- SpareRoom carries room and flatshare listings that Rightmove does not index.
- PrimeLocation shares stock with Zoopla and aggregates a wide agent network — some listings surface there before, or instead of, Rightmove.
- Leaders is one of the UK's larger letting agency chains; Dwellio monitors its own site directly rather than waiting for a portal feed.
Rightmove is still the biggest single slice of the market, and you should keep the alert. The mistake is treating it as the whole market. We compared what each portal adds in the full guide to Rightmove alternatives.
Dwellio vs Rightmove Alerts
Dwellio does not wait for a portal's email batch. It checks Rightmove, OnTheMarket, OpenRent, SpareRoom, PrimeLocation and Leaders every 15 minutes, matches new listings against the search you saved once, and sends an email or push notification within minutes of a match appearing on any of them.
| Rightmove alerts | Dwellio | |
|---|---|---|
| Portals covered | Rightmove only | Rightmove, OnTheMarket, OpenRent, SpareRoom, PrimeLocation, Leaders |
| Speed | Batched email; app push quicker but not real-time | Portals checked every 15 minutes; alert within minutes of a match |
| What each alert shows | A selection of the matches when many arrive at once | Every match, with the same property shown once across portals |
| Duplicates | One alert per portal if you run several | Cross-portal deduplication |
| Set-up | One saved search per portal, per account | One search, all six portals |
| Cost | Free | Free to sign up, no card needed; Pro is £9.99 a month after a 7-day trial |
Keep your Rightmove alert running alongside — there is no downside — but do not rely on it to be first.
When Rightmove Alerts Stop Working
If alerts have stopped arriving, turn up late, or skip properties you can plainly see on the site, it is almost always one of a handful of things: a saved-search radius that does not reach where the listings are, a frequency quietly set to daily or weekly, batch delay mistaken for a missing alert, the email landing in a Promotions or spam folder, a back-on-market relist that did not re-trigger, price-drop alerts that need a large enough reduction, or a phone whose battery settings are silencing the app's notifications. Each has a specific check and fix, and none of them is "wait longer" — Rightmove alerts not working? Here's why walks through all seven.
Make Faster Alerts Count
An alert only helps if you can act on it. Have a short, personalised enquiry ready and a tenant CV and rental offer letter you can attach in the same message, and know what you will say when the agent calls back. The renters who consistently get viewings in competitive areas are not doing anything clever — they are simply among the first serious enquiries the agent reads. We covered the rest of the routine in how to be first to view a rental property.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I set up Rightmove alerts?
Run a search on rightmove.co.uk with your location, budget and bedrooms, then choose the option to create an alert or save the search — you will be asked to sign in or create a free MyRightmove account. Pick the email frequency ("Instantly" is the fastest Rightmove offers). In the Rightmove app, save the same search and allow notifications so new matches reach your phone as push alerts rather than email.
Are Rightmove alerts instant?
No. "Instantly" is the fastest frequency Rightmove offers, but the emails are batched and dispatched in cycles, not sent the moment a listing goes live. Renters frequently report a gap of hours between a property appearing on the site and the alert arriving, and Rightmove does not publish how often the batches run. App push notifications are usually quicker than email but are still not real-time.
What time does Rightmove send email alerts?
There is no fixed time. Rightmove processes saved searches in batches through the day and evening, so alerts arrive at irregular intervals rather than on a schedule, and the same listing can reach two people at different times. Rightmove does not publish its dispatch times.
Why are my Rightmove alerts not working?
The usual causes are a saved-search radius that does not cover where listings actually are, a frequency set to daily or weekly rather than "Instantly", batch delay mistaken for a missing alert, emails landing in a Promotions or spam folder, and phone battery settings silencing the app's push notifications. Check those five before assuming the alert itself has failed.
Do Rightmove alerts show every new property?
Not in one email. When many properties match a saved search, an alert email shows a selection of them and mentions the rest, which can arrive in a later email. Rightmove does not publish how the selection is made. Alerts also only cover properties advertised on Rightmove, so a landlord listing on OpenRent or a room on SpareRoom never appears.
Does the Rightmove app notify you faster than email?
Usually, yes. Push notifications from the Rightmove app tend to arrive sooner than the batched emails, so enabling them is the single best improvement inside Rightmove's own tools. They are still not sent the moment a listing goes live, and they still only cover Rightmove.
What is faster than Rightmove alerts?
A service that watches the portals independently instead of waiting for their email batches. Dwellio checks Rightmove, OnTheMarket, OpenRent, SpareRoom, PrimeLocation and Leaders every 15 minutes and emails or pushes a match within minutes, with the same property shown once even when it is listed on several portals.
The Bottom Line
Set the Rightmove alert up — website and app, "Instantly", a radius that actually covers the area — and then stop expecting it to make you first. It was built to tell you eventually, across one portal, in batches. The market you are renting in rewards the first few enquiries, wherever the listing appeared. If you have been arriving at viewings that are already booked out, the fix is not checking more often; it is being told sooner, across every portal, and having your enquiry ready when you are. Start free with Dwellio — no card needed.