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Revealed: how TrustPilot’s review verification system really works
Details of how TrustPilot enables estate agents to verify and manage customer reviews have been revealed follow a complaint about Purplebricks from one of its customers. Brighton-based lifestyle blogger Laura Tells (pictured, left) posted a low rating of Purplebricks on Trustpilot recently after receiving zero viewings for her flat. Soon after posting her review Laura was contacted by TrustPilot to say that it had been taken down because “Purplebricks has reported the review because they don’t believe you’ve had a genuine buying or service experience”. Laura was then told that to have her review put live again she’d have to provide her proof of service with Purplebricks. A protracted debate ensued on Twitter between Laura and Trustpilot, during which several traditional agents weighed in to demand the review site clarify how their ratings management process works, but largely to no avail. Company guidelines The Negotiator has contacted TrustPilot for a response. It says that, following the Twitter exchange, it has contacted Purplebricks to “clarify” its usage of the term ‘verified’ and to “make sure they comply with our company guidelines,” says spokesman Alexander Tolstrup. “Companies should not refer to unverified Trustpilot reviews as verified even if the company have done…
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Top high street firms outperform online agents, research shows
The top-performing high street agents in the UK outperform online agents in all areas including achieved asking price and time taken to sell, it has been revealed. Research by consumer advice website HomeOwnersAlliance.com found that the top 1,000 best performing agents achieved on average 100.35% of their asking price, “suggesting that sellers can still maximise their home’s potential by selecting the correct local agents”. These agents also have a much better sales success rate than online agents, the research reveals, and sell 82.42% of homes listed with them compared to 51.98% by online and hybrid agents. “Sellers who look carefully at their local market before listing their home for sale will probably still be better off instructing the best high street agent in their area,” says Paula Higgins, Chief Executive of the HomeOwners Alliance. But for those looking for a quick, easy sale with surprisingly high rewards, online agents are an excellent and rapidly-improving option.” But the performance of online agents versus the whole high street market compares less favourably for traditional agents. Asking price The research reveals that online agents achieve a higher percentage of the asking price than their high street competitors despite charging on average £850 in…
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Rightmove chairman sells shares worth £4.23m
Rightmove chairman Scott Forbes (pictured, right) has sold shares in the company worth £4.23 million, taking advantage of a recent spike in its share price. It has jumped in value by £2 to £43.63 or five percent since the 19th May, valuing the portal at £4.03 billion. Scott sold 100,000 of his shares yesterday at the peak of the current surge, which eased off today. This leaves him with 219,000 shares in the company worth £9.3 million. This is not the first time that Scott has cashed in his Rightmove shares. In 2007, just two years after joining the company from worldwide property services company Cendant, he sold shares worth £7 million to finance a home purchase in Kensington and in 2012 shares worth £4 million. Constant growth He joined Rightmove and was appointed to its board in 2005 and has overseen almost constant share price (see graph, right) and business growth at the PLC. This includes last year, which its most recent figures show saw revenue and profits that both jumped by 15% compared to 2015, and total dividend payments that grew by 19%. Agents listing on Rightmove currently spend £832 a month and the website has 20,121 branches…
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Spring bounce for the housing market says Rightmove
Positive noises coming from Rightmove’s latest report: a 1.1% (+£3,547) rise has pushed the national average to £313,655, exceeding the previous high of £310,471 set in June 2016. This has been driven by strong buyer demand, with the highest number of sales agreed at this time of year since 2007, before the credit crunch. While the run-up to an election creates a degree of uncertainty and often a pause in activity, this strong set of figures should help mitigate pre-election jitters. Miles Shipside, Rightmove Director, said, “High buyer demand in most parts of the country has helped to propel the price of newly marketed property to record highs. There are signs of a strong spring market with the number of sales agreed achieved at this time of year being the highest since 2007. It remains to be seen what effect the run-up to the snap election will have, though any slowdown in activity will be counter-balanced by the market’s current fast pace. Indeed, in locations where choice of suitable property is limited, hesitation could mean losing out to others who still decide to act.” “Increasingly stretched buyer affordability will continue to be a price moderator for sellers who are over-ambitious with their…
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UK’s specialist property portals taking on the big three
Visitors from space probably think that the UK has just three property portals – and that those portals have taken the place of estate agents. Not true...
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Expert opinion: owning a share of the freehold
Barrister Mark Loveday sheds light on the implications and the deeper meaning of owning a share of the freehold of a flat.
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Lettings fees ban WILL go ahead, says DCLG
The lettings fee ban is set to go ahead. The Government has announced its intention to introduce a total ban ands agents across the UK will not be able to charge any fees to tenants for their services, if the Government’s proposals are implemented. This isn’t a case of rattling cages to get the message through to agents that their fees may be disappearing, if they do not receive suitable responses from the consultation – today’s publication of the Consultation Paper leaves us in no doubt that there will be a total ban on lettings fees, as stated by Baroness Hayter (right) last week at the arla|propertymark Conference, it is just a matter of when and how it is implemented. Within the document, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) says, “DCLG officials undertook some market research of letting agent fees. We randomly chose 50 agents of differing sizes and models (i.e. franchises, independents and national branches) across the country and searched their website for a list of letting fees charged to tenants. This exercise reinforced how difficult it is for tenants to both find and compare agent fees since it was not always simple to either find the fees…
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TPO and CTSI launch Phase 2 of letting fees display crackdown – in Berkshire
Agents in Reading, Basingstoke and surrounding areas are warned. The Property Ombudsman (TPO) and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) have today launched Phase 2 of its crack down on agents not properly displaying their letting fees. The launch follows a five-month effort by the two organisations in both Swansea and Dorset, during which 266 agents were contacted and asked to provide photographic evidence to demonstrate their compliance with the law on letting fees. Agents are required to display fees clearly both in their branch and on their website. Non-compliant Any agents that TPO and CTSI found not to compliant were then given the chance to amend and re-submit. Out of the Phase 1 agents, just two have failed to comply either by not replying or addressing problems with their compliance and will now be referred to TPO’s Disciplinary and Standards Committee for investigation and review. “We are unable to name the firms concerned at this stage – a statement will be made if any agents are expelled from the scheme, as per the normal process,” a spokesperson told The Negotiator. “99% of TPO letting agents in Swansea and Dorset are now displaying their fees correctly.” Adrian Simpson (pictured, left)…
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CMA rejects industry forum’s call for letting fees ban review
The NALS-organised industry Fair Fees Forum has had its request for a letting fees ban review rejected by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which says there is too little time to complete it. “Given the pivotal role played by the private rented sector, we feel this decision is a missed opportunity to review the way the sector works to deliver the best outcome for all concerned,” says Isobel Thompson (pictured, below), Chief Executive of the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS). Irreparable damage The CMA decision not to get involved comes despite the Forum warning that great care must be taken not to cause “irreparable damage” to this part of the private rented sector by rushing through a ban without “fully considering the impact on the sector.” The news may surprise many in the industry who had been led to believe that after the soon-to-be published results of the consultation – and given both the pressures on parliamentary time and the need for primary legislations to impose a ban – it was unlikely that one would be introduced until next year. This would have given the CMA plenty of time to review the details of the ban. “This is disappointing news for the…
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New money laundering watchdog launched
The government has announced that a new watchdog is to be launched early next year to oversee the UK’s Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations, which are due to become law this June. Called the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS), its job will be to tackle potential weaknesses in the supervision of estate agents that criminals may be exploiting. The new anti money laundering watchdog will be paid for by what the HM Treasury calls ‘supervisors’; the big accountancy, law and other trade and regulatory bodies. It will be based at the HQ of the Financial Conduct Authority in London. AML rules The latest version of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017 is designed to bring the UK in line with international standards and include “robust new standards of supervision”. They introduce new responsibilities for agents covering when and how they must carry out enhanced due diligence on customers, and how they carry out risk assessments to work out if their business is vulnerable to money laundering attempts. The regulation in particular ask agents to look more carefully at transfer of funds, a problem highlighted in January when a criminal gang based in London…
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