A property lettings portal in Scotland looks set to rock the entire portals debate across the whole of the UK.

The Lettingweb site, which partners with Zoopla, will not have been heard of by many agents in England and Wales.

However, it is urging the lettings industry in Scotland to rebel against Rightmove and also other stakeholders, including ARLA.

Lettingweb, whose members’ properties are automatically listed on Zoopla, is currently offering its members in Scotland the opportunity to become a gold owner member in its semi-mutualised business.

The offer, reminiscent of the Agents’ Mutual model, is in a new prospectus which specifically singles out Rightmove for criticism.

Lettingweb’s prospectus, which is marked “strictly private and confidential”, has been seen by Eye.

What the Lettingweb share offer would do to Agents’ Mutual’s “one other portal” rule is unclear, but could potentially strengthen Zoopla’s hand in Scotland – where Agents’ Mutual has already made some significant gains.

There would also be a question mark as to whether letting agents who list on both Lettingweb and, by association, Zoopla, would be banned by Agents’ Mutual for breaching its “only one other portal” rule.

Zoopla successfully launched on the stock market last month. Lettingweb has recently appointed Nick Leeming, former director of Zoopla, as a non-executive director.

The Lettingweb document, which makes it plain that it has not been approved by City watchdog the FCA and is not necessarily compliant with new crowdfunding rules, says it is offering in an unlisted company gold, silver and bronze share offerings, to acquire up to 50% ownership of the website.

It says that the motivation behind the offering is “to help protect the industry”.

It is making the first tranche of equity on offer available to 100 existing Lettingweb members.

These “gold” members would receive a 15% discount in the share price, paying £2.55 rather than £3, and with the goal of raising £500,000.

Each gold member would have to apply for at least 500 shares and up to a maximum of 25,000 shares.

The prospectus says that silver and bronze share offerings will follow once the gold offer is complete.

Lettingweb says it is offering a first-year return on investment of some 30%, which it says is a “compelling financial case”.

While Scots agents who list on Lettingweb also have their rental properties marketed via Zoopla, there appears to be no similar partnership on offer with sales agents in Scotland.

Lettingweb was originally launched to counter newspaper advertising prices, the prospectus saying that these “held letting agents to ransom”.

The prospectus also says that “originally we liked Rightmove”, as it was initially owned by agents.

It goes on to say that this is no longer the case, and that Rightmove has become “a monopolistic publisher” which has a 74% profit margin: “It became exactly what it set out to slay.”

The prospectus continues: “Now that they [Rightmove] have a virtual monopoly of the agent market in England and Wales, they are turning their attention to growing their market share in Scotland so that they can dictate prices here.

“The difference is, in Scotland, we can prevent this from happening. But only if we unite and act now.”

The share prospectus also lambasts ARLA and RICS, saying that the Scottish market is probably considered too small for it to matter.

The document also complains about “ill-informed” legislation promoted by tenant activist groups – undoubtedly a swipe against Shelter.

The prospectus tells agents: “It is not enough to keep marketing costs down. We need to get investment up.” It does not mention an “only one other portal” rule, so it would appear that this requirement has been dropped.

It says Lettingweb will be more than a portal, but a powerful collective, suppressing spiraling marketing costs and helping to strengthen the industry, while improving margins for agents.