Big estate agencies only pay Rightmove £125 a branch, campaigner claims
Shaun Adams of Cooper Adams, who is fighting Rightmove fee hikes, tells The Neg that small agencies are paying many times more than the big firms.
Independent agencies are facing Rightmove bills of £2,000 per month while some large firms are only paying £125, it has been claimed.
Shaun Adams, Owner of Cooper Adams in West Sussex, tells The Neg he has been reliably informed that these are the amounts agencies pay.
Adams has organised a campaign against the fees Rightmove charge, including a complaint to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and a legal challenge.
I’ve been reliably informed that some corporate chains pay as little as £125 per branch per month.”
“I’ve been reliably informed that some corporate chains pay as little as £125 per branch per month, while independents pay more than £2,000,” he says.
“If true, this creates an unlevel playing field and reinforces monopolistic market distortion.”
22% price rise
He claims some price rises have been as high as 22%, and the financial burden on smaller firms is “devastating”.
“Many are scaling back marketing, reducing staff, and ultimately offering a poorer experience to sellers — all because they’re overpaying to be visible.”
Adams, Co-founder of three-branch Cooper Adams, argues that Rightmove’s average cost per house sold is around £450, but a fair market rate would be closer to £45.
A spokesperson for Rightmove told The Neg: “It is categorically untrue that big estate agencies only pay Rightmove £125 a branch.”
Game changers
This week, Rightmove launched a new marketing campaign designed to highlight the work that all estate agents do to “keep the nation moving”.
Six ‘exceptional’ agents it says are ‘game changers’ who go “above and beyond”, in their local areas were chosen to front the campaign.
The agents were given superhero-like names such as ‘The Extra Miler’, ‘The Mind Reader’ and ‘The Solution Finder’.
Christian Balshen, Rightmove’s Director of Agency Partnerships, said: “This campaign is to remind people of the skill that is demonstrated every day by property professionals and to make sure it doesn’t go unnoticed by people moving home.”
Thats what LSL branches used to pay and thats a few years ago now. Some independents are now paying well over £3k a month per branch in the most recent RM price review.