Lawsuit Will Seek £1 Billion For Rightmove Customers Charged "excessive" Fees

Rightmove is facing an "imminent" legal challenge from thousands of UK estate agents, who accuse the property portal of abusing its market position by charging unfair and excessive listing fees. Damages in the collective action are estimated at £1 billion.

The claim, led by former Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) panel member Jeremy Newman, alleges that Rightmove has leveraged its dominant position in the online property market to impose inflated subscription prices on estate agents.

As a press release from the legal firm behind the suit points out, Rightmove operates at a profit margin of around 70%, the highest in the FTSE 100.

The case, fully funded by specialist litigation funder Innsworth Capital and supported by law firm Scott+Scott UK LLP and economists from Kairos Economics, will be filed on behalf of thousands of agents on an opt-out basis. Any UK estate agent that has paid fees to Rightmove in the last six years will automatically be included in the action unless they choose to opt out.

“Rightmove knows that its product is considered a ‘must-have’ for estate agents,” said Jeremy Newman. “It exploits that dominance to charge excessively and unfairly high fees. This case will seek to return overpaid sums to estate agents and restore balance to the relationship between agents and the platform.”

Innsworth Advisors Managing Director Ian Garrard said the case was about “levelling the playing field for businesses up and down the country” and that agents joining the claim “will not have to pay a penny” toward the legal costs. No date or timeframe was given for the potential filing.

Rightmove, which says that more than 80% of all consumer time spent on UK property portals is on its platform, has long faced scrutiny over its pricing model. A 2025 petition calling for a CMA investigation into its market power gathered thousands of signatures, reflecting growing industry frustration over escalating costs.

Earlier this month, Rightmove's share price tumbled as investors reacted an update to the market in which the portal reaffirmed profit guidance for 2025 and announced a significant investment into its AI capabilities.