Rightmove to make old listings 'invisible'

Monday 5th December 2011

Out-of-date property listings are to be kicked firmly into the long grass this week, Rightmove has announced.

The site has been writing to agents telling them of the new ‘data quality’ measures which will make it impossible for browsers to see old properties that are incorrectly left on the site.

Both sales and lettings properties will be made ‘invisible’ after a certain period of time.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside said: “With over 10m people visiting Rightmove every month it is important that we constantly refine our listing data to ensure our site content is as accurate and up-to-date as possible.”

Properties for sale that are listed as ‘Sold Subject To Contract’, ‘Sold Subject To Concluded Missives’, ‘Under Offer’ or ‘Reserved’ for longer than six months will automatically be made invisible.

A notification will be sent to the agent via email as well as an alert within RightmovePlus. A similar system is also being put in place for rental properties listed as ‘Let Agreed’ for longer than six weeks.

In a bid to counter criticisms that stale listings remain on the site, Rightmove has introduced a number of measures over the past 18 months including matching properties to Land Registry sold prices and enhanced detection of reloaded properties.

The new data quality controls have been developed in consultation with agents to establish a fair means of identifying sales and lettings properties that may be out of date.

Shipside added: “We have worked hard to establish a system that provides a fair advertising platform for all Rightmove member agents while maintaining an enjoyable user experience for our website visitors.

“Feedback from agents tells us that out of date stock in their local area is just as frustrating for them as it is for the home-moving public.”

Rightmove is the eighth most popular website in the UK, coming after Amazon but before the BBC websites.

The next most popular property-only website is Zoopla (102) followed by Findaproperty (113) and Primelocation (198).

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Added by Razor on 2011-12-08 13:49:11

Just had all my 'Let Agreed' property wiped off, even ones where the new tenant hasnt even moved in yet and cant relist them as it blocks the facility, JOKE, rightmove are becoming a complete pain in the arse, we pay you the money - so give us the service WE want, TW*TS! anyone know how to get round it ?

Added by PeeBee on 2011-12-07 15:42:30

Tail wagging the dog YET AGAIN.

I'm one of RMs biggest defenders on here - however it has to be said that their "end-user is the influencer" attitude is becoming tedious.

So they get a few irate calls. So what? They are paid to provide a service (which they do very capably...) - not to dictate its limits in such a way, surely?

The thing is, this is all about properties that are specifically marked U/O or Let Agreed, and therefore do NOT come up on a search unless the '"end-user" TICKS THE BOX - so in other words, they WANT to see these properties!

Isn't it then a simple case of people wanting what they think they can't have - and then bleat about it being unfair?

And RM apparently haven't got the cojones to tell them that... ;o)

Added by Beeblover on 2011-12-07 11:13:18

I'm sorry - but Rightmove's traffic level doesn't even come close to the BBC's traffic. According to Alexa, BBC.co.uk is the 45th most visited website in the world. Rightmove isn't even in top 1000!

Added by on 2011-12-05 17:08:08

Cant they make the HPC nutters invisable as well?

Added by JS on 2011-12-05 10:17:35

Would've been simpler to have a quick message flash up when they select the 'let agreed' box, so they know what it actually means!

Added by Industry Observer on 2011-12-05 10:07:52

Surprised no-one has posted on this yet, probably all well used to being beaten down by RM I suppose.

I cannot comment on the sales side of this, but on lettings RM has been agitating for some time to get let properties removed. There are arguments both ways but it is a very usefiul tool for an agent to leave let properties clearly marked as let on their listings so prospective tenants and above all Landlords can see the areas that they cover.

I would have thought if they choose to sales agents would find that a useful marketing tool too. But there are arguments both ways.

Point is this should be an agent's choice but needless to say this being a benefit to the actual RM client, the agent, who pays the fees RM ignores it and as usual just barges ahead and does what it thinks is best.

I wonder if any of the 7 sites above RM or the other 93 until you get to Zoopla are as arrogant as RM, I doubt it.

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