Exclusive - Zoopla chief to be quizzed by letting agents

Zoopla founder and chief executive Alex Chesterman is to step into the firing line to answer online questions from letting and estate agents.

The Industry Views section of Estate Agent Today will from this coming Saturday, September 5, carry a ‘call for questions’.

Agents will be able to post their questions online from that date until the end of Friday September 11. 

Chesterman’s responses will then appear in the Industry Views section on Monday September 14 and be carried for several days.

All of this is exclusively available on Letting Agent Today and Estate Agent Today.

There is no limit on the scope of questions, which are likely to range from long-standing dissastisfaction with fees levied on agents by all portals, to more specific Zoopla-focussed queries such as whether it intends to carry direct listings from individual sellers.

Questions are also likely to focus on whether Zoopla will seek to integrate information from price comparison website uSwitch - acquired by the Zoopla Property Group earlier this year - into its property listings.

There is also bound to be questioning on whether Chsterman believes he has seen off the threat of OnTheMarket after welcoming back some ‘defecting’ agents over the summer, and how he believes the portal rivalry will develop over the months and years ahead.