Rightmove accused Owner Sellers, a free online estate agent, of putting vendor contact details on sales boards outside houses, and of putting Rightmove’s logo onto its own boards.
As a result it de-listed Owner Sellers from its site for 28 days, after which it will carry out an unprecedented fifth audit of the firm. However Rupert Cattell, founder of Owner Sellers, says the claims are “completely false”.
In a statement he said: “This is the future for estate agency and clearly Rightmove doesn’t like it. We have now been audited no fewer than four times in the last 12 months by the portal, which is more than any other agent in the history of the industry.
“This latest claim, that our sale boards display our vendors’ phone numbers, is completely false. We protect our clients and vet every enquiry before forwarding on any details. Photographic evidence has been provided to support our argument, and yet they are de-listing the site for 28 days after which they will carry out an unprecedented fifth audit. This is a gross abuse of their position.”
He continued: “We can only assume that Rightmove sees us as an existential threat to their business model and to that of many high street agents, and they are doing their level best to stop us from delivering a service that vendors want.
“Meanwhile it’s Rip-Off Britain once again where vendors are forced to pay agents’ commissions and are being prevented from using a free service to sell their houses.”
A spokeperson from Rightmove responded: “Rightmove’s terms and conditions and membership criteria are designed to protect users, for example by ensuring that all property details appearing on Rightmove are reliable and that Agent members have actually visited those properties, and also to ensure that all members comply with relevant UK legislation. We conduct a diligent but fair vetting process in respect of all applicants and we would refuse membership to any business that failed to meet those criteria.
“We also vet existing members again from time to time to ensure that they continue to meet those criteria and, where that vetting process reveals that an existing member does not meet those criteria, that member’s contract is terminated.
“If a business in that position makes the changes needed to bring their operations back into compliance with our membership criteria then it would, after a 28 day period, be permitted to become a member again. Rightmove applies these criteria and its vetting processes to all members in a fair and consistent way.”
