A worried London estate agency has contacted The Negotiator to reveal that OnTheMarket is chasing it for £24,000 in unpaid portal fees which, OTM claims, it owes after the agency cancelled its five-year OTM contract back in 2016.
Cubix Estate Agents in SE London was part of the original 100-agent strong OnTheMarket Action Group that fought the portal over pricing promises made about fees to early adopters.
Cubix claims these promises were broken and that it does not owe OnTheMarket for the fees due for the remainder of the original contract. In the past OnTheMarket has denied it made any ‘misrepresentations in regard to pricing policy during this period’.
Cubix is now calling for any other agents within the industry who are facing similar financial demands from OnTheMarket to get in touch to explore whether another action group can be formed.
On joining the portal in 2015 and signing a five-year deal, Cubix claims it was promised that its OnTheMarket subscription fees would always be equal to or lower than members who joined at a later date.
“We were a start-up company then so you don’t how well it might go so we didn’t want to join the other big portals,” says Raste Khan, Sales and Letting Director at Cubix (left).
“After trialling its service, we signed up with OnTheMarket on a five-year contract but after a year-and-bit it was obvious that the portal was offering other agents better – or free – deals.
“So we got on board with the action group and told OnTheMarket that we were leaving and at the time they stopped chasing everyone.
“But now we’ve been contacted by a solicitor about what they claim is an outstanding debt, but have offered to wipe it if we re-join.”
If they don’t rejoin, Khan says the legal letter threatens his company with court action over the £24,000 debt after, OnTheMarket says, Cubix broke its original contract.
“Their whole ethos used to about being different from Rightmove and Zoopla and not increasing prices and allowing agents to have their say, but we’ve lost respect for them in what they were originally trying to do; they’re just another company now.”
A spokesperson for OnTheMarket said: “We do not discuss confidential contractual issues with individual agents.”
Agents who want to contact Cubix should email Raste Khan or call him on 0203 582 8710.
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