Could this landmark lawsuit reduce your Rightmove fees?

Rightmove could soon face a £1 billion collective action legal case, and your agency will probably be part of it.

Jeremy Newman, a former panel member of the Competition and Markets Authority is getting ready to challenge the UK's biggest online property portal, saying that Rightmove has used its dominant market position to charge agents inflated prices.

It’s backed by litigation funder Innsworth Capital, which has previously funded claims against social media company Meta and credit card company Mastercard, and is now fully funding the case against Rightmove.

According to Newman, Rightmove “exploits its dominance of the online property portal market in the UK to charge excessively and unfairly high subscription fees, both at face value and when compared with its competitors. Estate agents have had to absorb consistent, excessive price increases on a regular basis.”

The portal’s position as market leader is clear. Last year, the company reported that out of every five minutes consumers spent on property portals, they spent four of them on Rightmove. That helped the portal to record the highest profit margin of any FTSE 100 company, at around 70%.

If you have paid Rightmove subscription fees at any time in the last six years, you’re automatically included in the collective action – for free – unless you opt out. However, no date has yet been given for filing the case.