A second petition has been launched complaining about Rightmove fees to agents – this time from a platform that claims it offers better value for money.

Last month we reported that Shaun Adams – owner of Brighton agency Cooper Adams – launched a petition following Rightmove’s latest fees hike of up to 18% for some agents.

Adams’ petition read:  “We, the undersigned independent estate agents, are calling for an urgent investigation into Rightmove’s unfair and unsustainable pricing model, which is crippling small businesses and stifling competition. Rightmove dominates the UK property portal market, with over 86% of all online property searches taking place on their platform. Sellers expect their homes to be listed on Rightmove, and buyers naturally turn to it first—giving estate agents no real choice but to remain on the platform, no matter the cost.”

So far, over a fortnight after it launched, it has won only 1,500 signatures as of March 4, despite substantial publicity in the industry press.

Now the platform Wiggywam has its own petition, although it is used as part of a recruitment campaign for agents to sign up to its services.

On his website, Wiggywam chief executive Silas J Lees makes allegations about Rightmove and its approach to the Material Information issue, and goes on to write: “Rightmove, however, continues to charge agents over £1,500+VAT per month, essentially taking their hard-won data for free from the agent’s CRM system, before selling it back to them at a massive profit!  Worse still, they now seem to be blocking agents from complying with regulatory requirements. All of this is whilst operating at a staggering 73% profit margin – one of the highest of any FTSE 100 company – and its pushing agents to breaking point. Worryingly, estate agents are paying outrageous fees to Rightmove for a service that is actively putting them at risk.

“… One thing seems obvious – Rightmove is bleeding estate agents dry — increasing their fees while refusing to support compliance with material information laws. Yet agents have all the power in their hands to rapidly change this situation. It seems Rightmove have forgotten that it was agents who built them up to be the largest portal in the UK, and they can remove them from that position of power in a heartbeat.

“After 20 years of endless price rises, Rightmove’s business model is clearly designed to exploit estate agents as much as possible and not support them. At WiggyWam, we believe that agents should have full control over their listings, compliance should be seamless, and they should never be forced to pay excessive fees just to do their jobs properly.”

There is no indication how many agents have signed this petition.