Agents Agree to End Boycott of Northern Irish Portal PropertyPal After Talks

An agent boycott of leading Northern Irish real estate vertical PropertyPal appears to have been ended after positive talks between the company and agents.

In late February a group of agents stopped listing with PropertyPal after the portal changed the way it charged for its services. Although neither side has commented on what the specific changes were, it has been reported that PropertyPal moved to introduce a subscription-based membership model where it had previously operated on a charge-per-listing basis. The agent group claimed that the change would see some of the portal's customers paying up to 45% more.

Speaking to the BBC on behalf of the agents Stephen McCarron, an estate agent based in Londonderry, said that agents felt "coerced and bullied" with "no alternative" but to take action and that PropertyPal had enacted the change without consulting its customers.

But now thanks to talks held last week, the two sides have come together.

In a statement given to the BBC late last week, PropertyPal said that there was "a mutual desire for a positive resolution and to move forward constructively" and that as a result "the majority of all agents" are once again using its services to advertise their listings.

According to McCarron, the portal's management—under recently appointed CEO Jordan Buchanon—came around to see the agents' point of view.

"It took a while for PropertyPal to see the side of the estate agents, but when they sat down and they had a conversation and they talked through the different points, then there was a consensus agreed."

Although it has competition in the form of CGD-owned Property News, PropertyPal enjoys a position of relative dominance in the Northern Irish market.

The main British portals, Rightmove and Zoopla are not nearly as strong in Northern Ireland as they are elsewhere while CoStar-owned OnTheMarket pulled out of the region recently. Meanwhile, Adevinta-backed Daft.ie which operates in the Republic of Ireland has very sparse listings coverage north of the border.