Globrix, together with other portals and estate agency suppliers, has been accused of restrictive practices after banning a sale-by-owner website.
The accusation comes as the Office of Fair Trading is putting the finishing touches to its latest report on estate agency. Drafts already released contain a heavy focus on private sellers.
Globrix, which has declined to comment, had apparently listed The Little House Company’s properties by mistake, after its ‘crawling’ technology automatically picked up the properties privately for sale.
The Little House Company (LHC) charges consumers fixed prices from £89 to list their properties, with HIPs at £249.
LHC, which has been in business since 2000, says that once Globrix realised what it had done, it banned the private sales website.
LHC says it noticed back on December 5, 2008, that Globrix was listing several hundred of its private sellers’ properties – ironically, without permission from LHC.
This month, it says that Globrix become aware of the situation and promptly banned LHC’s properties from the Globrix search engines.
LHC claims that it was the first private sales company to ‘operate partnerships’ with Rightmove and Propertyfinder (now owned by Globrix). However, since 2006, it says it has been banned from all the major UK portals.
Nicholas Marr, company director of LHC, said: “Globrix listed our properties without permission and provided us with a steady flow of business for over a year.
“These were mainly from consumers selling their own homes who thought our DIY model was an excellent way of saving on an agent’s commission.
“We are met by these restrictive practices not only from property websites like Globrix but from software companies, For Sale board companies and web design companies, to name but a few.
“In fact, any business that has a relationship with estate agents closes the door firmly on us in fear of losing business from estate agents.
“The Little House Company is not anti-agent: instead, we are about offering an alternative and providing consumer choice. Consumers have got to ask why are organisations like Globrix, Rightmove and the Digital Group so frightened of our business model?”
Earlier this year LHC gave evidence to the OFT for its new report on estate agency, to be published in the New Year. The company says it has cited correspondence from all major portals confirming the banning of its listings from their databases.
The most expensive property currently listed on the private sales website is a £5m home in Essex. Some of the properties on the site are shown as being under offer.
The portals have generally argued that they are concerned that properties they list should not breach the Property Misdescriptions Act and that the safest way of ensuring compliance is to use agents’ listings.
Private sales site hits out angrily after ban
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Comments
Zoopla = private sales. Avoid like the plague.
Full disclosure: I am the founder of a new private sales website launching in 2010.
I have met Nick Marr and am very pleased with his courageous stand against the unfair influence agents and agent organizations wield over the marketplace. Whatever your opinion with regard to the effectiveness of private property sales, consumers should have the option to go this route if they wish. It is important for the OFT to examine why the major aggregators like Globrix will not accept private listings.
If the common excuse is true, and portals simply don't want to list properties which haven't been vetted by an agent and are therefore not liable under the property misdescriptions act then that's fair enough. Surely they can differentiate these properties and inform the user that this is a private sale and as a result a registered agent has not checked the any of the stated details, job done! Customer gets to choose for themselves whether they want to view these types of properties or not.
However, if the scanario is that agents will not endorse any aggregation website which lists private alongside agency listings, which would effectively kill any aggregation website (as agents account for roughly 90% of all property sales in the UK) then this needs to be examined by the OFT and steps taken to ensure this does not continue.
I know 100% that agents can benefit from dual listings, I run MyPropertyForSale.co.uk and have some agents listing their properties since 2005, the website started in 2001. This week I have had another 4 agents ask about listing.
As the law stands, there is no regulation when selling your own property, only when an agent sells on your behalf. Anyone can set up as as an Estate Agent in the UK unlke many other countries where licencing is required.
I think the journalist writing this meant that propertyfinder used to be owned by News International - who also own Globrix, but as a few people have pointed out they no longer do so it is poor journalism from people who are suppose to know what they are talking about! As we all know private sales do not work so I don't think it is too much of a problem, however I also do not believe that the two sites (private and proffesional sellers) should all be mixed. On that note you may want to check home.co.uk as they are a private sellers site that scrape estate agents websites to make it look like they have more properties.
Propertyfinder is now owned by zoopla not globrix!
Private sellers should face the same penalties as estate agents.
Chill, why such anger? Peolple must have choice, if you happy with your lot why moan about a few FSBOs
Several companies have managed to dupe Rightmove and the others into allowing them to list. Urbansalesand lettings.co.uk is just one such example.
I always ring private sellers to tell them they are nuts,,however I normally get to an answer phone,,great service....why bother.. ditch the agent is great as well,,,walk around your city lookin desperate handing out rubbish leaflets of your house,,wow thats so much easier then just using an estate agent.........................
At least when u use an esate agent you can blame them for not being able to sell your overpriced house.
Obviously as an estate agent of 20 plus years experience i'm biased but one aspect of private sales is never mentioned in any such discussion...security..the number of people who are prepared to let any person they have never met unaccompanied into their own home-surely your own safety is worth the agents fee alone.There have been an alarming number of horrible incidents from dating websites which usually mention meeting in a public place not your own home-can anyone suggest a difference?I'm sure the Suzy Lamplugh Trust would certainly have a similar opinion.Ps i have never sold my own house -always used agents
It makes me laugh seein these private sales agents. They rip people off for £100 but when they realise no one trusts a private seller (normally because the agent wouldnt say the price they wanted to hear.)they come back to us £100 lighter.
Just shows how gullible/ nice us agents are. People pay us nothing until we deliver.
Private sales sites and operatives want the best of all worlds. They want to list where regulated agents list as the agents listings create the market place, self sale sites operate on a low or no commission charge pull. Yet they don't have to be responsible for when self sellers make PMA errors. Agents are penalised. If the self sale sites want to play agency and cut the agent, then the OFT should make the process of selling accountable not the job title. We at INEA also DO NOT ALLOW private sale listings.
"Propertyfinder (now owned by Globrix)"
Wishful thinking?