Estate agents who post fake or misleading reviews about their own businesses, or who pay others to do it for them, are to face a clampdown by the government.

Such activities, which have become common within the property industry but also the wider business community, are to be made illegal.

The system of online reviews is to be directly police by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) which will for the first time be given powers to intervene and prosecute firms who breach the new rules including fines that can reach up to 10% of a firm’s annual turnover.

“We’re making sure consumer protections keep pace with a modern, digitised economy,” says MP and minister Paul Scully (pictured).

Specifically, the new law – which will now have to be go through the lengthy parliamentary approvals process – will include new laws against:

• Commissioning someone to write or submit a fake review;
• Hosting consumer reviews without taking reasonable steps to check they are genuine;
• Offering or advertising to submit, commission or facilitate fake reviews.

Estate agents have form in this area. In January 2020 Purplebricks got into hot water after its Canadian operation was found by investigators to have sent emails to staff asking their friends and family to post upbeat messages and star ratings on Facebook and Google about the company.

And in February this year estate agency reviews platform AllAgents locked horns with Trustpilot over its approach to fake reviews.

Also in March last year an unnamed London agency was included in a list of 40 businesses published by Which? that, it claimed, had all been given the same glowing write-ups by one reviewer, a clear indication that something fishy had been going on.

Vital

Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, says: “Britain’s consumer and competition laws are in desperate need of an upgrade.

“Doing so would benefit not only consumers but businesses and the wider economy too. That’s why the inclusion of these measures as part of a Consumer and Competition Bill in next month’s Queen’s Speech is vital.”