As of 26th January 2015, an association of over 1,900 traditional ‘Bricks and Mortar’ Estate Agents will be launching a new online property portal, ‘OnTheMarket’ , membership of which requires members to remove their listings from one of either RightMove or Zoopla in an attempt to reduce the amount of power these online platforms.
This new website, designed purely for traditional Estate Agents, is also probably a method of reducing the power of web-based estate agents who are able to offer significantly reduced rates on the price of letting or selling a property.
For anyone currently selling or letting a home through a traditional Estate Agent, this could mean that it takes longer to sell or let your property, as it will more than likely only be listed on one of the two most popular estate agency websites in the UK. RightMove reports around 80 million searches a month and Zoopla around 40 million, a significant percentage of these searches are unique, meaning that the best possible outcome would arise from a property being listed on both sites.
If you are currently using a traditional agent:
- Check with your agent if they will be joining OnTheMarket
- After the 26th Janurary, check both sites to see if your property is still listed
- Ask your agent for a joint agency agreement so that your property appears on both sites
If you are buying, selling or letting a property and require legal action, please contact a member of our conveyancing department:
Paul Westwell: pwestwell@bromleys.co.uk
Beverley Pretl: bpretl@bromleys.co.uk