Rightmove Sued for £1.5 Billion

Rightmove is subject to a lawsuit worth in excess of one billion pounds after a former member of the CMA sued Rightmove on behalf of thousands of agents for alleged abuse of monopoly.

The £1.5 billion lawsuit, announced in November 2025, argues that Rightmove charges excessive and unfair fees to UK estate agents and new home developers that list properties on its online property portal.

Over 250 estate agencies from across the UK have expressed interest in and support for the claim. Jeremy Newman, a former panel member of the Competition and Markets Authority, brings the action. Rightmove received a pre-action letter in November 2025, informing them of the imminent legal action seeking relief for thousands of British agents.

Newman is an accountant with considerable experience in providing strategic, financial and commercial advice to organisations. He said:

"There has been an extremely encouraging response from estate agents since we announced this legal action. The stories shared by businesses, both small and large, have confirmed long-held concerns in the market about Rightmove’s conduct. Filing this claim today advances the route to meaningful compensation for those businesses who have had very little choice but to absorb excessive fee increases for many years."

According to Rightmove’s own disclosures, over 80% of all consumer time spent on UK property portals is spent on its platform. In its recently published results, the company reported profit margins of around 70% for the second consecutive year, the highest in the FTSE 100.

Research published in December 2025 found that Rightmove’s annual fee rises have outpaced the growth in estate agencies’ commission earnings for the third consecutive year. In 2024, for example, house prices increased by 1.3% versus 2023, while Rightmove’s average monthly fee increased by £93 per month, an increase of 6.5%. The result is that while agents' commissions increased by circa £50 per property, they were paying twice as much to continue to advertise on Rightmove.

The claim is fully funded by Innsworth Capital, with legal support from Scott+Scott UK LLP and independent economic analysis by Kairos Economics.

James Hain-Cole, Partner at Scott+Scott, said:

“For years, thousands of businesses have been captive customers of Rightmove, which faces no effective competition. It’s therefore been allowed to financially squeeze its subscribers by consistently and materially raising prices without proper justification or explanation. We’re pleased to have now filed this important legal action and to be supporting Jeremy in seeking redress for thousands of British businesses.”

Rightmove has faced regular pushback against its fee hikes for several years without ever having its conduct scrutinised in the courtroom. The portal, a runaway market leader and one of the most successful and powerful real estate marketplaces in the world, boasts a market capitalisation of over five billion pounds at a margin of over sixty-five per cent.

However, Rightmove is one of several major portals that have experienced major value destruction in the past twelve months. At the time of writing, Rightmove's share prices are down forty-two per cent in the past year, and ten per cent in the past month.