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News: Controversial letters fly ahead of OnTheMarket launch

Thu, 22 Jan 15

Letters are flying through the UK property industry ahead of the OnTheMarket launch, as estate agents signed up to the new portal inform sellers that they will be removing listings from either Rightmove or Zoopla to comply with the new site’s "one other portal" rule.

OnTheMarket, which is run by a conglomerate of estate agents, is designed to divide the market share of the two big portals, leaving the new contender with the most complete catalogue of properties for sale in the UK.

Some are concerned that the move will harm consumers’ chances of buying and selling homes at the fairest price, with exposure for listings significantly lowered in the short term, even if OnTheMarket grows in the long term to become the UK’s number one portal.

Knight Frank, one of the founding members of the site, though, assured vendors that it was an "exciting development" for the property market.

"The portal is run by Agents’ Mutual, which is made of a membership of over 2,000 estate agency firms, amounting to 4,000 offices. It is envisaged that the membership will grow significantly once the portal goes live," the agent wrote to customers in a letter published on Estate Agent Today.

"The motivation of the portal is to deliver the best user experience for vendors, buyers and prospective tenants, with results produced clearly and in an uncluttered way with no pop-ups or third party advertising as is found on the other major portals.

"To give the portal a chance of establishing a meaningful presence, each member agent will only be allowed to display properties on one other portal.

"Knight Frank undertook an extensive survey assessing all of the available data and concluded that the best portal to go alongside OnTheMarket.com, for our business, would be Rightmove."

This "will be of long-term benefit for all those with an interest in buying, selling or renting property in the UK and overseas", Knight Frank added.

Indeed, the majority of OnTheMarket members have so far announced their support of Rightmove, choosing to remove their listings from Zoopla. Rightmove has taken the chance to emphasise its leading position, offering a pre-written letter to its clients to send on to their sellers to explain the market shift.

"Choosing an agent to look after the sale of your property can be confusing – after all, there’s so much to think about! At <>, we want you to know that you are in safe hands with us," reads the letter.

"Our aim is to sell or let your property at the best price and as quickly as possible whilst ensuring that you receive a highly professional and effective service along the way.

"To ensure that we deliver on that aim, we regularly review how we do things, including where we advertise. From January 2015 we will advertise your property on Rightmove.co.uk, a new website called OnTheMarket.com and our own very popular site.

"Rightmove is the UK’s busiest property website and, because we are members, we can guarantee that your property is in front of the biggest audience of home hunters around."

The letter lists traffic statistics for Rightmove, before going on to say: "In addition, we’ll also advertise your property at OnTheMarket.com, a new property website with properties for sale and rent all over the UK. More and more agents are choosing to advertise all their properties with OnTheMarket.com and, as they do, the audience will grow."

While some agents have welcomed the offer from Rightmove, though, others have reportedly sent their own letters to property sellers offering their own services instead. According to Property Industry Eye, Countrywide has sent letters to rival chain Spicerhaart, saying that Spicerhaart will no longer by advertising on Rightmove and Zoopla.

"We wanted to be aware that your current estate agent has recently indicated that they will no longer be promoting their properties on the UK’s two largest property websites; Zoopla and Rightmove," explains the letter, crucially missing out the "both", which could still be inferred by the reader.

"We list every property on all major websites... so as to provide our clients with optimal on-line coverage," it continues. "We would be delighted to discuss on a no obligation basis how we can assist you with the sale of your property."

A spokesperson for Spicerhaart told the site: "Agents from Countrywide have written to Spicerhaart clients suggesting the group is withdrawing from both Zoopla and Rightmove portals. Spicerhaart, a founder member of OnTheMarket, in fact revealed in December that it will be retaining Rightmove as its other preferred portal, and is viewing the unsolicited approach as potentially libellous."

Countrywide has not yet responded to media requests for comments, while Paul Smith, CEO of Spicerhaart, claimed that OnTheMarket will be the "second biggest portal in the UK" within a year.

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