Many of the agents closely associated with OnTheMarket are allegedly still using other portals in addition to Rightmove or Zoopla - despite the new site's one other portal only' policy.
Research by Estate Agent Today shows that as of yesterday:
Carter Jonas, Douglas & Gordon, Gascoigne & Halman, Jackson-Stops & Staff, Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, Knight Frank, Savills, Spicerhaart, Webbers and Winkworth were still promoting their properties on home.co.uk as well as larger portals.
Carter Jonas, Jackson-Stops & Staff and Winkworth were also advertising properties on countrylife.co.uk.
Gascoigne Halman and Winkworth were also advertising on mouseprice.co.uk, while Winkworth was also on nethouseprice.com.
OnTheMarket set the cat amongst the pigeons within the industry last year when it created the only one other portal' rule; it has so far made exceptions for a Scottish lettings portal and a UK student accommodation portal, but has not commented on other exceptions.
It is still unclear how the portal ruling will be policed - if at all - and whether there is even unanimity on what constitutes a portal', or whether founding agents and those with representatives on the board of Agents' Mutual may be exempted in some way.
Early this month OTM temporarily rested' properties listed by Statons, an agency with six offices in Hertfordshire and north London, after an Estate Agent Today story said the agency had tweeted that it was not going to abide by the portal rule.
Given that many of the firms listed above and still advertising on more than one other portal are heavily involved in the running of OTM, with some having directors on the board of parent body Agents' Mutual, similar action is considered unlikely.
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Comments
I'd love to know if the average house seller / house buyer even gives a damn about all this
@ Jonathan
You would have to have grounds to contest it on. OTM may take an agent to court for being in breach. But if a consumer had insisted that they felt OTM was failing to replace interest that a lost portal was getting, then it could be and agent in court by a client. Or OTM in court for placing the restraint. Who knows until there has been a few different scenario cases.
Equally CPR's and BPR's are under review. It could be on BPR's that aan agent takes OTM to court if kept in a restraint. Or maybe Trading Standards change the laws to create new scenarios.
It does seem unfair on other agents abiding to OTM rules if some of its founders are not. And alike another said. Central upper end agents tend to work together so in theory one could do rightmove and another zoopla, leaving poor other agents on one main portal and OTM.
There is some crossover coverage as OTM is new and agents had paid Rightmove/Zoopla in advance so want to get their moneys worth from the listing before cancelling. I wonder how long it will be before the one other rule is contested in court
You are insulting a great many business owners with your statements.
You seem to be the kind who will laugh in the face of any who fail.
You must be so happy with your own lot in life and work. Good for you.
Share some of the positivity that goes with that warm fuzzy feeling instead of the billshut you currently shove in front of our eyes.
Who knows - you may feel [b]even more[/b] smug as a result...
Its just a front for the snob agents who share on Lonres. look at the founders. Wake up PLEB agents. Excludes the corporate agents, excludes online only to 1 portal. The rules a joke it means most agents outside central London are screwed from doing 2 main portals. Think what profile it benefits.
If this is an industry trade newsletter "the voice of the industry" it says above why isn't it welcoming a new portal/deveolpment in our industry. By all means quote industry insiders but don't make the news, report it. Why try and trip up the very businesses you are trying to inform. I have a list of sites we can go on - obviously members can go on others - and OTM is policing it as your own article points out. The whole point is OTM is good for estate agents whether or not you use it - it has already broken the duopoly and should be applauded for that. I think it is now possible for an agent to be on one portal and reach all the market which probably wasn't the case prior to OTM.
I was under the impression that the one other portal rule related only to Rightmove and ZPG. When an OTM rep came to my office, I was told that I could advertise on any other portal without issue. I just had to choose between Rightmove and ZPG. For the record, I'm not on OTM as I didn't see the immediate benefit for my clients.... and have remained with both RM and ZPG.
PeeBee - Spot on!
However, if the content of the report is anywhere accurate then the agents themselves will be responsible in part for any failure of OTM.
It begs the question what is the management of AM/OTM doing to enforce their own rules If they do not get their act together very quickly OTM will sink because it is relying to a great extent on exclusivity. It would seem that they are relying on handshakes and for the top suits to 'play the game' - big mistake.
OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, MR NORWOOD - CHANGE THE RECORD!
AM's infamous "One Other Portal Rule" has been defined as "One other COMPETING portal".
I believe it was in the news - so no wonder you missed it.
Anyone thinking for one nanosecond that the Y-listers you quote in this excuse for a 'story' are competition for ANY major portal need to re-examine their competence level as an Agent.
And EAT really wants to start REPORTING the news - not trying to let (or make) you WRITE it.
In the latter respect, you crash and burn spectacularly.
EA Today seems to have turned into the mouthpiece of Zoopla, just like Property Eye is for OTM they need to tone it down a bit.
Playing devil's advocate, house.co.uk is a scraper. I am on there but have never sent them a feed. So just like houser the agents are going to need to complain. Countrylife does need to be sorted out that may be due to the print advertising the posh agents are still doing.
Pee Bee is spot on. A property listed on OTM goes on LonRes and an agent with applicants generated from Zoopla will have that agent calling the agent who has left Zoopla via LonRes (for those who don't know, its an agent only site where you can list instructions and offer a split fee) Besides, most of the Prime London boys dont rely on portals. In Arab Prince or Russian oligarch gets his PA to call Tarquin at Strutts and they log into LonRes...
OTM is a laughing stock, even the founder members cant stick to the rules, its true what they say, built by agents FOR agents pfft
Joke is most of yhe founders do Lonres so even if they did play ball, they are likely to one do rightmove and buddy bill do zoopla and prime whilst the pleb agents stupid enough to restrain themselves suffer with just one other main portal. MUPPETS. WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE OTM agents.
The big central London agents sre playing you for monkeys.