NEWS FLASH: Estate agent employees offered up to £100,000 to whistleblow on cartels

Estate agents, including employees, are among those being offered up to £100,000 to blow the whistle on illegal cartels.

Making the announcement this morning, the Competition and Markets Authority said it is launching its first advertising campaign to crack down on cartels.

Its press release specifically mentions the latest case involving agents, where firms in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, agreed to fix their fees at 1.5%.

The release mentions two other recent cartel cases, and says that further cases of suspected cartel are under investigation.

Andrea Coscelli, acting chief executive of the CMA, said: “Cartels are a form of stealing that cheat ordinary people as well as other businesses by undermining competition, and we are committed to tackling them wherever we find them.

“Cartels are carried out in secret to make you think you are getting a fair deal, even when you are being conspired against to keep prices high.

“Cartels are both harmful and illegal, and the consequences of breaking the law are extremely serious. That is why we are launching this campaign – to help people understand what cartel activity looks like and how to report it so we can take action.”

 

x

Email the story to a friend



9 Comments

  1. seenitall

    Splitter

    Did they fix the online agents as well?

    Report
    1. Hillofwad71

      Yes I was wondering that what  about the “independent” 400 LPEs at Bricks who confirm  that their  fees are carved in stone 

      Report
  2. StatementOfFact

    Cartel? Surprised not to hear from Trevor M yet.

    Report
    1. Frown Please

      OI! That’s my line!
       
      I will forgive you this time though 😉

      Report
  3. J1

    Hmmmm

    The only Cartel in our area is one which is making sure fees are so low that sales agents are struggling to make ends meet, so perhaps this could be called a Letrac   ………

     

    Report
  4. Thomas Flowers

    UK 1 to 1.5% average?

    Australia 3%

    America 6%

    Europe 6 to 17%
    NO SALE, NO CHARGE, NO GAMBLE ?
    Stamp Duty charge based on the average property price of say £300,000 equals 1.66% plus 20% VAT on agents fee.

    Report
  5. renown76

    Be better employed stopping builders selling leasehold houses to first time buyers.

    Report
  6. PeeBee

    Anyone considering such an act – and mores likely destroying their future employment potential – should read the leaflets entitled

    “30 Pieces of Silver Won’t Last You Forever”

    “A Hundred Grand? In your Dreams, Chum”

    and

    “If Something Seems Too Good to be True…”

    available at larger branches of Narks’r’Us.

    Report
  7. agentx

    Oil prices are fixed by manipulating the volume of barrels produced? Is that not a cartel? Gold is the same. Supermarkets dictate the price of milk? And dont even start on utility compsnies. I tell you what, lets just keep kicking the High Street agents into oblivion leading the way for the online platforms. Anybody got a stash of online only shares???

    Report
X

You must be logged in to report this comment!

Comments are closed.

Thank you for signing up to our newsletter, we have sent you an email asking you to confirm your subscription. Additionally if you would like to create a free EYE account which allows you to comment on news stories and manage your email subscriptions please enter a password below.