The Competition Appeal Tribunal has ordered a court hearing for 2-3 November 2026 in a £1.5bn legal action on behalf of thousands of UK estate agents and new home developers who were allegedly overcharged by Rightmove.
The legal action, led by former Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) panel member Jeremy Newman, claims that Rightmove abused its dominant position in the online property portal market by charging excessive and unfair fees to estate agents that list properties on its online portal.
The hearing in November will determine whether the Tribunal grants a Collective Proceedings Order, certifying the claim and paving the way for it to proceed to full trial.
The Tribunal additionally ordered that Rightmove must file its response to the legal claim by 29 July 2026, and that Mr Newman will file his reply to Rightmove’s response by 25 September 2026.
Total damages claimed are estimated at around £1.5bn. According to Rightmove’s own accounts, its profit margin is around 70%, making it one of the most profitable companies in the FTSE 100.
Estate agents and new home developers that paid subscription fees to Rightmove between 1 April 2020 to 1 April 2026 are invited to get in touch here.
Rightmove defends position after £1.5bn lawsuit wipes £300m off value
This is the best property news for a very long time. Putting up our fee by 18% this year, when general inflation is around 3% was scandalous. I understand from Costar meetings (Onthemarket) that their profit margin target is 22%, Google and Microsoft are happy with 25-26%, and RM have consistently shown around a 74% profit margin on turnover. CMA were told at professional meetings that RM were taking excessive profits due to their monopoly position more than 10 years ago, just after they had handed out big fines to agents for colluding on a 1.5% Sole Agency Commission at Burnham.
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