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Coronavirus latest: Rightmove announcement on fees cut ‘due today’

Portal's reps tell agents to 'hold fire' with calls for help and promise that news of a financial package to ease the burden is in the pipeline.

Nigel Lewis

coronavirus

Several agents have contacted The Negotiator to reveal that their Rightmove reps have told them to expect an announcement on a fee reduction within the next 48 hours.

It is also understood that the other portals are also considering how to soften the blow that a Coronavirus-triggered market downturn may bring, including temporarily suspending or reducing their fees.

Agents are said to have been contacting Rightmove in such numbers asking for help that the portal has been persuaded to do something fast to support agents.

This follows anger among many customers after an email was sent out yesterday giving agents advice on how to cope with Coronavirus from both a health, staff and business perspective, but with no mention of a fee reduction or any other measure designed to ease the financial pain.

Money and data

London agent Trevor Abrahmsohn, says that the portals should “never forget who provides the money and the data”.

“They have got to be very careful about how they treat agents, many of whom are scrambling to find a few crumbs of comfort at the point in time,” he says.

“If Rightmove and indeed Zoopla could find it within them to offer the warm hand of hospitality and generosity in the circumstances then that would be a good move.

“But if they want to stand up against the agents, who are their benefactors in many ways, then they will do so at their peril.”

Rightmove will also be mindful of its shareholders; the company’s share price dropped by nearly 6% at one point today as City investors worry that Coronavirus may create difficulties for many of its agent and developer customers.

Read more: how to survive coronavirus.

March 18, 2020

2 comments

  1. No help from Rightmove, contract or not in these challenging times cancelling an over priced service seems a wise move.

  2. So the big announcement was that Rightmove is willing to defer some fees! Yes, you’ll have to pay the money back later – Rightmove aren’t reducing their fees by a single penny! So glad we gave Rightmove notice when we did, we’re leaving at the end of the month and that’s what I call great timing.

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