Hearings have begun before the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal regarding a large-scale class action against the property portal Rightmove. The claim amounts to £1.5 billion and is brought on behalf of thousands of estate agents. The claimants accuse the market-dominant portal operator of abusing its leading position in the UK market and charging excessive and unfair listing fees.
The subject of the current hearings is the formal question of whether the claim can be certified as collective proceedings. Confirmation as a class action would allow the claims of the affected estate agency businesses to be heard collectively, rather than requiring thousands of individual legal actions to be pursued.
Allegations of abuse of market power
At its core, the claimants argue that Rightmove abused its dominant position in the digital marketing sector. Many estate agency businesses were effectively dependent on the portal's reach and therefore had to accept continuously rising fee structures to remain visible in the competition for prospective buyers and tenants.
In the claimants' view, the fees charged bore no reasonable relation to the service provided. Due to a lack of equivalent alternatives, the platform operator was allegedly able to exploit its pricing power over years without constraint, placing a noticeable financial burden on the estate agency sector.
- —Hearing before the Competition Appeal Tribunal on certification as a class action
- —Claim value of £1.5 billion on behalf of thousands of estate agency businesses
- —Allegations of excessive fees through the exploitation of a dominant market position
Far-reaching consequences for the portal sector
The proceedings are being watched with great attention across the UK property industry. Should the tribunal certify the class action, the portal operator faces one of the most financially significant legal disputes in its corporate history. Such proceedings could also set fundamental standards for pricing and market dominance among digital platforms in the United Kingdom.
