Rightmove has hinted heavily that it plans to introduce tenant reviews onto its lettings platform, highlighting the move within its latest results report.

The Neg has asked the portal whether this is likely, but at the point of publishing this article has not received a reply confirming or denying this is to be its next move.

In a section within its results about its purchase of the HomeViews build-to-rent review platform a year ago, the portal says: “This augments our existing Rental Operators proposition, provides a basis for introducing resident reviews into other business units”.

Dominance

Rightmove acquired HomeViews, in an £8 million deal in February last year. The purchase was an indication of Rightmove’s strategy to take over any competition that threatens its dominance, as HomeViews did in the build-to-rent sector.

HomeViews claims to be the UK’s largest community of verified resident reviews of property developments, but is also essentially a place for tenants and buyers to seek out the ‘best’ blocks.

Its data platform, HomeViews Pro, is used by the build-to-rent industry to better understand resident experiences and trends across the sector.

Revenue up

Rightmove’s year-end results revealed that despite achieving a modest 2% increase in the number of agents using the portal it managed to return rising revenues, up by £25.6 million (7%) to £389.9 million.

Last month, independent estate agent Shaun Adams set up a petition calling for an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into the portal’s charging policies.

Adams, of agency Cooper Adams, accused Rightmove of “bullying” and “daylight robbery” over its latest fee increase of 18%, and his petition has collected more than 1,400 signatures.

The Neg has approached Rightmove for comment.

Read the full results report here