Somerset estate agents admit to price-fixing

Credit: PA

Four Somerset estate agents have agreed to pay fines totalling over £370,000 to the Competition and Markets Authority, after admitting illegal price-fixing.

The following businesses have admitted breaking competition law by taking part in a price-fixing cartel in the Burnham-on-Sea area.

  • Abbott and Frost Limited,

  • Gary Berryman Estate Agents Ltd (and its parent company Warne Investments Limited),

  • Greenslade Taylor Hunt and

  • West Coast Property Services (UK) Limited

This saw them collude to set minimum commission rates for residential property sales at 1.5%, with a view to denying local home-owners selling their property the chance of securing a better deal.

The businesses involved agreed to settle with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after a year-long investigation.

Another company, Annagram Estate Agents Limited (trading as ‘C J Hole’), will not be fined - as long as it continues to cooperate – as it was the first company to confess its participation in the cartel.