Lawsuit Tribunal: Agents Fear Rightmove Retaliation If They Give Evidence

The Financial Times has reported that UK estate agents are fearful that Rightmove will retaliate with "adverse commercial consequences" if the portal hears that they have given evidence against the company in its proposed billion-pound lawsuit.

Rightmove was sued for £1.6bn last year for levying excessive and unfair listing fees for real estate agents who depend on the platform to generate buyer leads. Jeremy Newman, a former panel member at the Competition and Markets Authority, intends to file against Rightmove on behalf of over seven thousand British agents on an “opt-out” basis, in which they would be deemed to be claimants unless they specify otherwise.

Lawyers told the tribunal that a “significant number” of agents they had approached were concerned about adverse commercial consequences, given their dependence on Rightmove—which generates 80 per cent of total property portal browsing time in the UK.

Newman said estate agents had “expressed a concern that they might face retaliatory conduct from Rightmove or that their commercial relationship with Rightmove would be jeopardised should their name be made public or associated with the claim.”

Rightmove rejected those claims. Rob Williams KC, speaking for the portal, said that Rightmove sees agents as partners, and retaliation against agents would be a "shot in the foot".

According to the FT, Rightmove’s lawyers have launched a disclosure application to require Newman to hand over agent communications for verification purposes, so the portal could “test the quality and the robustness of the evidence”.

Rightmove says Newman's claims are "without merit", and that the company is "confident in the value we provide to our partners and consumers, who are at the core of our business solutions and digital platform.”