Say No To Rightmove Figure Admits Movement Has Lost Momentum, Champions OnTheMarket to Act in Agents' Interest

A well-respected figure in the world of British estate agency who has been a leading figure in the Say No Rightmove campaign has admitted that the movement to pressure the portal into fairer prices for agents has stalled.

Speaking in a personal capacity to UK agency publication Estate Agent Today, veteran agent of almost 48 years Murray Lee said that the campaign he has been a part of since early 2020 "[wasn't] quite able to get enough wind in the sails".

Formed in response to Rightmove's initially disastrous response to the pandemic which offered very little in the way of discounts for agents unable to work in lockdown conditions, the SNTR campaign initially gathered widespread support among agents.

The movement seeks to put pressure on the leading British portal to offer agents what it considers to be fairer prices for listings and do away with discounts for larger agencies. SNTR made national and international headlines in its early days, gathering some 1,850 member agencies and even hiring dedicated staff members for the campaign.

Although Lee admitted that the momentum seems to have petered out, there is still a lot of anger towards Rightmove among UK agents, especially after the latest round of price increases from the portal.

In the interview, Lee also praised the work of majority agent-owned challenger portal OnTheMarket and of its ex-agent CEO Jason Tebb:

"Jason looked and listened and I’ve been very impressed with the work they’ve done in the last few years. The support we’ve received from them has been excellent,”

Tebb has been widely praised among British agents for listening to their opinions in person at 'town hall' events staged around the country. Thanks to their popularity, OnTheMarket's town hall events are set to be expanded with capacity increased to 50 agents per session with Tebb commenting:

"With our last round of Town Halls selling out, and a growing number of agents registering interest in attending the next series, it’s clear to me that now is the time to expand the series to meet this demand."

“Originally, I’d only planned to run events with our agents so I could understand what they wanted and where they felt OnTheMarket needed to do things differently. It became clear very early on that it wasn’t only me who found them useful, they did too."