CIELA
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Latest property news
CIELA members gather to plan data blitz that will rival corporates
The inaugural meeting of all the founder and regional members of the Charter for Independent Estate Agents (CIELA) is taking place in the Oxfordshire town of Bicester today. The organisation says the meeting will be a forum discuss how independent agents can unite their “potential firepower” and unite their resources and data to create a force greater than any “corporate in the industry”. Independent agents CIELA clearly thinks one failing of independent agents is that they do not share their data in the same way corporate branch networks do. David Butler (pictured, left), CEO of software firm ResiAnalytics and a former senior team member at both the Hometrack and CBRE, is to speak to them today to explain the power of the “combined data that independents currently hold between them, but do not currently use”, the organisation says. CIELA, which has been formed to represent the collective voice of independents and also communicate to the public what independents “actually do”. It has been busy in recent weeks. It’s website has been updated and it has hired a PR team that in the past has worked with Zoopla and Tepilo. CIELA, which was founded by tech firm owner Charlile Wright, is…
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Features
Circle of trust
The property industry has a new, potential disrupter, nudging into its circle of trust, which could be wonderful, but, Andrea Kirkby asks, how many organisations do we really need?
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Latest property news
CIELA kicks off with an assault on Purplebricks
Embryonic industry organisation The Charter for Independent Estate and Letting Agents (CIELA) has asked the hybrid agency Purplebricks to withdraw its current TV advertising campaign and stop making comparison fee claims. The request was made in a letter sent yesterday to Purplebricks’ West Midlands HQ in Solihull, on what was CIELA’s inaugural day. The ‘club’ also says that it will be submitting a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about these matters if Purplebricks does not take “reasonable steps” to address the issues. The letter, which runs to some 900 words, claims that some of Purplebricks’ advertising is “misleading to consumers” even though CIELA admits they are “not factually inaccurate”. FEE STRUCTURE The letter also goes on to criticise Purplebricks for comparing its fee structure and operation with that of traditional agents and the way the company calculates the vendor savings that its adverts are based on. It also explains why Purplebricks’ business model should be looked again given current Consumer Protection legislation, and why it thinks the company’s advertising may require scrutiny by the Advertising Standards Authority. CIELA is also worried that vendors do not understand the difference between the hybrid Purplebricks model and traditional agents, in particular that Purplebricks…
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Latest property news
CIELA to start pre-launch memberships from April, full launch on October 1st
The start-up of a new membership organisation just for independent estate agents called the Charter for Independent Estate and Letting Agents (CIELA) has moved on to its next phase. CIELA is the brain child of Charlie Wright, CEO of software firm Easymatch, who says independent agents need a separate organisation to help them fight against ‘corporate domination’. Charter Secretary Samantha Westlake says inauguration is due to take place tomorrow and that an interim monthly pre-launch membership fee of £35 is to be introduced for agents wanting to join from 1st April. This will be a few days before CIELA is due to launch the organisation to the press. Since announcing their intentions in January, CIELA’s 11 founding members have been consulting among independent agents, who they say have a strong desire for a ‘collective voice’. They also looked closely at several key questions including; whether there were enough issues and problems facing independent agents to justify a new organisation, whether CIELA would benefit consumers too, and whether there was enough support within the industry given the number of existing membership organisations. “It was agreed that the answer to all three questions is ‘yes’,” a CIELA briefing document circulated today reveals.…
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Latest property news
Founding members kick off CIELA club for independent agents
A new membership club exclusively for independent estate agents is to go ahead following a meeting yesterday of 11 founding members, during which they all signed a letter of intent to begin inauguration of CIELA. The aims of CIELA – The Charter For Independent Estate and Letting Agents – are to unite independent agents against corporate domination, unfair practices and the online threat says Charlie Wright, CEO of property software firm Easymatch (pictured, left) and who had the initial idea for CIELA Wright has been extremely critical of online agents such as Purplebricks, and in an open letter to agents recently said they are “undermining the whole industry” and “exploiting vulnerable first-time sellers who are naïve to the challenges and difficulties involved in a successful sale”. Wright started his business life working as a broker on the Liffe trading floor in London before setting up his first businesses for agents; photos and floorplans provider Datography, followed by thebu2iness.com, which has become Easymatch. So far eleven agency businesses owners/managers have been signed up, each to take up a regional chair role within CIELA, with a further two places exclusively reserved for women. The group will meet again on 22nd February to…
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