Agency chief demands action now over racism in the industry

A prominent London estate agency owner wants an industry anti-racism campaign to counter what she describes as the “discrimination and prejudice that exists across the property industry.”

Becky Fatemi, director of the Rokstone agency in prime central London, says: “Over my 25 years in the sector I have experienced racism and sexism first hand, and it still happens to me today on a regular basis.

“I run a very diverse team in prime central London and am starkly aware that there are few other estate agents operating in the area which can say the same.”

Her comments - to the PrimeResi and Standard publications in London - come following the ongoing investigation into the source of the racist tweet alleged to have come from the private Twitter account of a Savills employee in Manchester.

Fatemi continues: “If we are to change the archaic property industry we must start at the very top tier, with the largest companies.

“Currently, the majority of the executive boards within the sector do not have anywhere near enough female representation nor people of colour.

“I am happy to work with other agents and lead a cross-company, industry-wide task force to start making change real within property.”

Fatemi’s comments about the management leadership of prominent agents comes as the spotlight shines on Savills’ main team.

Estate Agent Today asked Savills if it had any on the record response to the barrage of social media comments about this page on its corporate website - here - showing 39 senior managers, all of which appear to be white and only five of which are female. 

Savills told EAT it had no comment but instead drew out attention to its diversity and inclusion policies here.

Meanwhile there has been no resolution yet to the investigation into the offensive tweet, coming from the private account of the Savills employee shortly after the end of the Euros 2020 final on Sunday night.