Estate agents have hit back at property portal’s latest price increase describing it as “unfair and unsustainable” as an online petition gathers momentum.
Rightmove has historically increased its prices at the beginning of each year which often results in outrage on social media. But this year’s increase of 18% has left one estate agent calling for a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation into the above Consumer Price Index and inflation rate price increase; rates the petition says can be charged because of Rightmove’s “dominant” position in the market.
The petition has been launched on change.org and calls on the CMA to review whether the portal, which says over 86% of all online property searches take place on their platform, is exploiting its position. Estate agent Shaun Adams of Cooper Adams in East Preston who launched the petition says
“Sellers expect their homes to be listed on Rightmove, and buyers naturally turn to it first—giving estate agents no real choice but to remain on the platform, no matter the cost.
Despite already generating enormous profits, Rightmove has announced yet another excessive price hike—an 18% increase, nearly seven times the UK inflation rate of 2.5%. This is not about providing better service; it is about exploiting their dominant market position at the expense of independent agents.”
“Rightmove has also implemented punitive rejoining fees and contract conditions designed to prevent agents from leaving or pausing their membership, making it financially impossible for small agencies to take control of their own costs. Rightmove’s fees should be fair and transparent for all agencies.”
With nearly 200 signatures in the first day there is support from the sector for a CMA investigation into a series of concerns raised by the petition:
- Investigate whether Rightmove’s dominant position in the market allows them to impose unfair and excessive fees.
- Assess if Rightmove is blocking fair competition by making it financially impossible for agents to leave.
- Review the justification for continuous, above-inflation price hikes while industry conditions remain challenging.
6 responses
If they have money to waste on pointless ‘sales progressors’ then they’ve money to burn on right move. It’s not like they’re spending funds on complying with nts guidelines either
I have been in the industry for about 40 years. Your comment is quite staggering. The reason that estate agents have to pay for sales progressors is too often because of the incompetence and inadequacy of so many conveyancers. They are employed to act as an intermediary between all parties and troubleshoot. In my experience and that of other agents, as well as competent conveyancers, the quality of conveyancers has deteriorated year on year.
Maybe you should take a mature view and work with sales progressors, rather than vilifying them.
Most progresors are simply looking to tick a box and if they do not have an immediate response then saying to the seller/ buyer “we’ve chased your solicitor and been ignored”. Too much time is wasted providing pointless updates which would be better spent actually progressing cases.
I agree the quality of conveyancers remains at an all time low. Many “good” lawyers have left the field as are tired of the constant pressure. You now have an industry where anyone can walk into a law firm without any legal background or qualification and call themselves a “conveyancer”. Case loads are often too high.
three week exchange-Thank you for your reply. I agree that without doubt there are sales progressors out there just ticking boxes. I guess as with every business owner, everything is about quality of staff and trying to be discerning over who you employ. I am thankful to be able to say that I have an amazing team who work with me, and a sales progressor who is excellent. Thankfully she is not a box ticker and is pro-active and very communicative with buyers, sellers and conveyancers. She really does, as I do, want to help the process of conveyancing, not hinder it. If I thought that sales progression was a waste of time, then I would not pay the money I pay to have one, but if she did not do it, then it would have to be me, as it once was. From a business owner point of view, sales progression reporting helps me to be able to manage my business and forecast cash flow. I am sure that it is something that every business owner has to be able to manage as much as they can, whether estate agent or conveyancer. Thank for your sensible and practical response.
The article is nothing to do with sales progressors. Also why hide your real name?
I agree.
If you make a statement on SM for everyone to read, at least be honourable enough to ‘show’ yourself. As those with any moral compass and integrity will know, there will always be those who hide behind anonymity when making judgemental and irrelevant comments. Why not come out from hiding and have an adult discussion about this.
Moreso, why not think about what the original article was about. I doubt that you have any idea what EA’s have to pay to RM and what the increase will mean to many EA’s and what that will mean to them. You may see EA’s as unnecessary or worse, and you are entitled to your view, but they are human beings. Many do an invaluable job and are the glue that sticks sales together. The increase costs of RM may well be the final nail for many good EA’s.
As three week exchange (whoever that is) stated, many conveyancers are leaving the industry because of the pressure, the same applies to EA’s who are exhausted with the whole system, which is beyond needing a complete and total overhaul for the sake of all of our sanities.