There has been some discussion as to whether firms that use self-employed local property experts – or their equivalents – should be treated as one business, or several.
Earlier this month, we reported that Purplebricks’ local property experts were being individually signed up to The Property Ombudsman.
This prompted speculation as to whether there might be other areas where self-employed local experts should be individually treated, including whether they should have their own Rightmove memberships.
While it is not only hybrid/online agents that use self-employed local representatives – some high street agents also do – Rightmove has clarified how it charges.
A spokesperson said: “Depending on the business model of a company, Rightmove customer contracts are either directly with that overall company, or with individual branches.
“The vast majority of Rightmove members are charged for the number of physical branch locations that they have, and within that they can advertise all of their instructions within the local area they operate.
“Some Rightmove agents are not charged by physical branch location, as their stock covers a wider than average geographic area from the physical locations they operate.
“These agents are charged for additional branches based on their stock levels and the national average of available stock per branch on Rightmove.
“This way of charging was put in place to ensure that there is a fair and consistent way of charging agents for the exposure they receive on Rightmove, irrespective of their business model.
“We regularly review stock levels and distribution for each agent and we adjust the number of additional branches they are charged for in line with this.”
The full details of how this works are here or an agent’s Rightmove account manager can take them through the details.
The spokesperson said: “All agents that join Rightmove go through a vetting process, and they need to belong to one of the government-approved redress schemes.
“The redress schemes can advise agents directly on the number of memberships they need to comply with current regulations.”
The spokesperson confirmed that Purplebricks is charged on the geographic pricing model.
Comments (18)
I am intrigued… Once PB, Yopa etc have representation in smaller geographical areas, equivalent to branch size, what will you all moan about then?
How much that will cost their bottom line and THEY’RE NOT EVEN MAKING A PROFIT NOW!!! Oh… We won’t be moaning about that.
It seems sensible to suggest ASA adopt this matrix for deciding if an agent is #Local; any agent stumping up a comparatively huge and regular wack to be on Rightmove irrespective of how many properties they list because they are fixed, permanent, experienced and expert to an area is local, any firm that employs listing reps to cover a geographically massive area should not be able to claim they are local.
Once ASA accept local is not something that anyone can just make up they will be able to clamp down on firms that misrepresent their coverage, experience and qualifications
ASA? they are useless they see a blatant misleading advert, leaflet, press release and ask them not to publish it again in it’s current form. I could get 1000’s of leaflets printed with false information and would get nothing but a request not to publish it again.
Unless there are clear guidelines on what makes a property ‘expert’ local or even an expert for that matter this won’t change.
When are they going to tackle this on mass for the sake of our industry? rather than taking case by case why don’t they tackle the breaches of the law by giving us something positive.
local – should be if you have an office in a nearby town/city or village or in the case of PB (hybrid model) etc. if their rep covers less than x square miles
expert – should be someone who has been proven to work in the industry for 3 years within the last 10 etc.
give us guidelines and we will all fall into line.. leave it open to interpretation and the ASA will have more work to do trying to get the agents to substantiate their claims.
only examples above – but you get the point
‘Some Rightmove agents are not charged by physical branch location, as their stock covers a wider than average geographic area from the physical locations they operate.’
i.e. such businesses know squat about the local houses they are going to see. Good luck with using one.
I believe valuation is very subjective and that it’s more about the people and their circumstance. I would agree that years of local knowledge is an advantage but with so many valuation tools, it is actually quite easy to get a feel for prices in any area.
The real skill in our business is understanding and managing client expectation. With this in mind, I think traditional agents could very well struggle to compete with the hybrid model.
*goes on Zoopla and looks up a guesstimate in our area… falls over laughing*
You still don’t get it do you!!??**!!??… falls over laughing?
Sure challenge me on THE FACTS instead of shallow statements.
If RM charged everyone x amount per post code they sell stock in this would make it more transparent. Some post codes are worth more than others. NW3 is worth more than NP13 for example.
Therefore the charge per post code would be easily banded A through H for example and you would have this for either on line or high street. Then no one could complain.
I understand if you have a couple of properties for sale in a post code you don’t pay for is over looked and this is fine for all, but if over a 6 months period you have 5 or 10 new instructions then RM should then tell the agent/online either pay up or remove them.
Zoopla should so the same to ensure fair play to all concerned.
As for OTM. well lets see them get some market traction first !
The legislation makes it quite clear that all agents must belong to a recognised body. The law as applied and enforced to date, has been quite clear that the law does not require individuals who work for a company to be individually registered but that each individual company or business must be. Rightmove cannot have it both ways as their Ts and C’s make clear – general_membership_terms_and_conditions.pdf – http://bit.ly/25WYtz6
Every LPE who is not legally employed by Purplebricks is a separate business and, whilst they are permitted to use trade using PurpleBricks’ name, they are legally independent businesses and have individual responsibilities in Law under this and other legislation. It is quite clear that Purplebricks (along with other agents who use a similar model) failed, or chose to ignore, this legal requirement. The LPEs’ should have taken advice prior to entering into contracts with Purplebricks but, in reality, PurpleBricks appear to have failed to advise these people, many of whom have worked in the industry for some years.
Rightmove make it clear they will investigate every business advertising with them and that each business warranties that they comply with all legislation and legal requirements. Clearly, Rightmove have failed (again*) to enforce its own Ts’ and Cs’; failing fee paying agents who DO comply and the public who expect Rightmove to show a reasonable diligence in checking that the customers they advertise are legally compliant with the law and that the adverts are legal decent, honest* and true.
*Portal juggling #portaljuggling on Twitter
If you operate outside your ‘Rightmove Approved’ area it’s double bubble. That’s why they love onliners! Its per 50 properties instead of 100.
Interesting. The vast majority of full service estate agents are small one branch operations listing between 4 – 10 new instructions per month.
So these loyal companies, many of whom helped build and grow RM have to pay RM considerably more per listing than the on-liners who paid nothing to build RM. Or put another way, for the same annual fee many small companiesl list up to 100 listings per year and the on liners can list up to 600 for the same price.
How fair is that?
Life isn’t fair Thomas! Might as well get used to it!
I got used to it years ago Clare, unfortunately so did everyone else, which is why we are in this position today.
Would we really pass on the savings to our customers or just upgrade from a Discovery to a Vogue? Valid question.
Considering you probably rely on RM to sell 70% plus of your stock AND provide tools to demonstrate your expertise, personally I think they offer very fair value unlike much of our other advertising mediums.