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A prominent online estate agent has called for the resignation of the managing director of the National Association of Estate Agents because of an alleged conflict of interest over its involvement with the challenger portal set up by Agents' Mutual.

Russell Quirk, founder of eMoov, says the position of Mark Hayward - who represents the association on the board of Agents' Mutual - is untenable and creates a conflicted association.

On the one hand the NAEA claims to represent all estate agents which are members; on the other hand, the NAEA is supporting the yet-to-launch portal which bans online agents from advertising properties for sale.

They are either there to support and advance the interests of all estate agents (including so called online agents) as per their terms of reference, or not. Being in bed with AM and their exclusive approach to the industry whereby online agents are banned' is the opposite of that says Quirk.

Another online agent, who says he wants to remain anonymous at this stage, says he is investigating legal action regarding the association's support for a portal which bans some of its own members from joining.

Quirk wants the association to make an announcement before the January 26 launch date of the Agents' Mutual portal as to whether the NAEA has one position or the other. They can't be both says Quirk.

EAT will publish any NAEA response it may make to this call.

Comments

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    The problem with RQ is that whilst he spends all this time slating full service estate agents and collecting data for his frankly boring and widely irrelevant housing market reports/comments (why he is considered the voice of the property industry by so many tabloids these days I do not know), Purplebricks and Easyproperty will continue to gain momentum and before he realises it, Emoov will be in trouble.

    Whilst only a tiny fraction of the public wants to use the online only method to sell (yes I am aware that fraction may grow . . . slightly), RQ fails to realise that the more time he spends championing the online agent cause, the less time he is spending developing his business model.

    All he is doing is encouraging the opening and development of more online agencies which he will have to compete with for a limited amount of stock.

    Purplebricks are pretty much on par with Emoov in terms of properties available now. Uh Oh, better get your ass into gear Russel.

    • 16 December 2014 16:25 PM
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    "Quirk raised this a few weeks ago..." Funny that - I raised it SIX MONTHS AGO, 'Harree' - he's late to the party as usual. Seems like every time I f@rt either Quirk or Shinerock claim the fruity bouquet as theirs... ;)

    • 16 December 2014 15:59 PM
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    Russell Quirk yet again blowing things out of proportion and now demanding someone's resignation. Ridiculous. He appears to spend more time venting to the media than he does focusing on his company!

    • 16 December 2014 15:11 PM
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    ....whereby online agents are banned.....
    AM/OTM do not BAN anyone. However, on-line 'agency' is not considered by AM/OTM to be offering the full agency service so membership is conditional as in many other things. Either comply with the terms or take another path.

    • 16 December 2014 12:36 PM
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    Say what you like about Quirk but he makes an absolutely valid point. Quirk raised this a few weeks ago and wrote to Hayward asking for an explanation. If Hayward had one he should have explained himself - if not Quirk is right to demand one.

    • 16 December 2014 12:18 PM
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    WELL SAID RUSSELL

    • 16 December 2014 11:31 AM
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    To Simon Shinerock....If your reading this thread then you must have now realised by the comments that youv'e been fighting the battle on behalf of the wrong party.

    • 16 December 2014 10:29 AM
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    Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

    • 16 December 2014 10:18 AM
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    I see Quirk is once again offering his opinion even though no-one asked for it. Why does he have to have an opinion on everything He just seems like a wind-up merchant who wants to cause trouble and bag more column inches for his company. Why doesn't he spend more time concentrating on eMoov rather than waging a one-man war against everyone in the property industry

    • 16 December 2014 10:18 AM
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    Having known the good work Mark is capable of, I would sooner see quirk kicked out and never let back in!

    • 16 December 2014 10:15 AM
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    That's all Quirk seems to do, make trouble and mouth off. It's best to just ignore him outright or laugh at him.

    • 16 December 2014 10:07 AM
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    Russell Quirk again I don't believe it. Is there a more shameless self-publicist out there He's never out of the news.

    He's good for a laugh, if nothing else.

    • 16 December 2014 10:06 AM
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    I am yet to embrace the day when "online" and "agent" are not spoken together. They are not agents, they are merely an advertising platform for private landlords. They do not do anything that an agent does, nor are they qualified to do so. Great, you've built a website, so have the likes of ebay and amazon to bring people together for private transactions. You haven't reinvented the wheel...

    • 16 December 2014 09:37 AM
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    I had a strong feeling that at least one of the Quirks may well have been thrown out of NAEA for breaching all sorts of rules some years ago!!

    • 16 December 2014 08:10 AM
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    Quirk making trouble again and talking about a subject that re has no right

    • 16 December 2014 06:33 AM
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    I didn't realise that Emoov were members of the NAEA or are they

    • 16 December 2014 00:14 AM
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