The brains behind new website NeedaProperty.com, CEO Scott Green and sales director Anthony Lerner, say they can provide a more personalised service to both estate agents and consumers, as well as opening up online property sales to new markets.

Speaking at their London offices, Green and Lerner said that the industry could no longer cope with the high fees charged by the most well-known sites.

Lerner told Mortgage Solutions: “The amount of money that estate agents are being charged by the dominant agencies is stifling the market.

“The property business is not as strong as it was and while agents are happy with the amount of business these companies bring in, they are not happy with the cost.”

Lerner said that the fact the market was controlled by so few players meant it had been difficult for companies to find another way of advertising online.

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“It has been hard for agents as there’s not been a viable alternative until now. If these companies say that prices are going up by £120 then there’s been nothing you can do.

“I was with an agent earlier this year who received an email with supposedly fantastic news about how popular his properties were, but in reality it was telling him they wanted to charge x-amount more for their service.”

Both former estate agents, Green and Lerner say their new service offers a much simpler alternative to the major sites, with an introductory offer of six months free subscription already proving popular, especially amongst smaller agencies.

“We have a very cost effective model for agents who might be looking to cut costs. We think there’s a gap in the marketplace as currently a few players dominate, which means there’s not much bargaining power for smaller agents.” says Green.

“We’ve always found that Rightmove can be seen as a bit arrogant given their market position. We want to create a portal where there is communication between members of the public and agents.”

The pair say that Need a Property will be able to gain market share by being more innovative than the opposition. A sales training arm is in development while the site already offers translation to Chinese in order to attract foreign investors looking for UK properties.

“Lots of investors are coming to the country from China and we’re looking to tap into the Asian market.” Green explains.

“A lot of agents don’t have the vision or money to do that, but we offer to translate listings into Chinese to allow foreign investors to have a one-stop shop for UK properties.”

Lerner added that he thinks Need a Property offers better usability for consumers, and that estate agents across the country were already seeing the benefit.

“We’ve got a good strong brand, we know about the costs and have put together a comprehensive package for agents across the country. One agent recorded 360 enquiries from our site during May.

“We’ve had success across the country, we already have 100 agents signed up in Liverpool and we expect similar stories from around the country. In total we’ve got around 3,000 agents and traffic was up 150% during May.

“The real proof will be when the trial period ends, but all the signs so far have been encouraging.”