Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: CMA warns U.K. estate agents over possible collusion, (Apr 22, 2016)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has sent an open letter to estate agents, warning them not to collude in their choice of online property portals. The letter comes after the CMA became aware that estate agents in some areas have made a collective decision to join the OnTheMarket portal and to remove their business from competing portals.

"The online portals on which properties are listed is an important aspect of competition between estate agents," stated Ann Pope, CMA Senior Director Antitrust. "Estate agents that are found to be breaking competition law in this way could face significant fines."

The open letter specified three key points for estate agents, including that: (1) jointly agreeing with competitors to restrict which suppliers estate agents deal with is likely to be unlawful in many cases; (2) the CMA continues to monitor the conduct of estate agents; and (3) the consequences of violating competition law can be severe, including fines of up to 10 percent of estate agents’ annual worldwide turnover. The CMA also warned that, "individuals in certain very serious cartel activity, such as agreements between estate agents to fix prices or allocate markets, may be prosecuted under the criminal cartel offence and, if convicted, could go to prison for up to five years and/or have to pay an unlimited fine."

News: Antitrust