Lettings agency Martin & Co have launched QR Code technology to assist tenants’ property search.

The Cambridge-based branch of lettings agency Martin & Co has launched a new mobile technology scheme that helps tenants search for property.

Its initiative uses “Quick Response” graphics, known as QR Codes, which when scanned using a barcode reader application installed on a camera phone, take users to a website encoded in the image.

The codes can be used to access a variety of information available through the Martin & Co website, including property details, maps, images and contact information. The technology also enables users to contact the Martin & Co office by email, phone or text at the touch of a button.

A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The term was derived from “Quick Response” because the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.

QR Codes storing addresses and URLs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards or any object that users might need information about. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader software can scan the image of the QR Code causing the phone’s browser to launch and redirect to the programmed URL. This act of linking from physical world objects is known as a hardlink or physical world hyperlinks.

Julian Diggle, IT Director, and one of three local brothers and landlords that own and run Martin & Co in Cambridge, said: “We believe we’re the first letting agent, not only in Cambridge but the whole of the UK to promote and implement the use of QR Codes in this way. In years to come this technology will be everywhere.”

Barcodes can be scanned from the Martin & Co website where they are displayed alongside standard property photographs. They are also available in the agency’s Mill Road office and on their printed property listings. Martin & Co plans to roll out the use of QR Codes in a number of areas to support its property marketing efforts, and to ultimately speed up the time in which suitable tenants are found.

Nick Diggle, Director, added: “We wanted to enable our prospective tenants to get more from our website, and to be able use our property details, maps, local info and other web-based features to better effect. Now tenants can store and access a wealth of property information on their phones ahead of viewings, and easily share them with one another.”

Many new mobile phone handsets now come with bar code readers pre-installed, and there are a variety of barcode reader applications available free of charge from the iPhone app store and other mobile application marketplaces.

Martin & Co is a dedicated residential lettings specialist with over 170 offices throughout the UK. Started in Yeovil in 1986 by Chairman Richard Martin, the company was franchised in 1995 and is a member of the British Franchise Association.