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As the fallout from the BBC’s undercover investigation into Connells and Purplebricks continues to ripple through the property sector, frontline staff are likely bracing for a backlash, says Ian Macbeth, founder of Avocado Estate Agents.
In this week’s Panorama, reporter Lucy Vallance, investigated claims that Connells was not acting in the best interest of customers and that online agency Purplebricks was putting pressure on staff to sell ‘add-on’ services and incentivised employees to persuade sellers to cut house prices.
“While corporate executives prepare their responses, it is the customer-facing estate agents—negotiators, valuers, and consultants—who will be left to deal with the consequences of institutional decisions they never made,” he said. “The truth is they were probably just doing what they were trained to do.”
Reflecting on his own experience of a similar incident at a different agency which was reported earlier in his career, he said: “In the main, we probably didn’t really want to do it.
“We knew it was morally incorrect, but we would face disciplinaries if we didn’t follow what was being driven from the top”.
He went on: “The estate agency industry has long operated on a high-pressure sales model, where staff are trained to follow strict scripts and upsell services to meet rigid targets. Failure to conform risks job security.
“Staff aren’t rogue agents – they’re following instructions, trying to earn a living, and often questioning the ethics of what they’re told to do. But when the PR storm hits, it’s the people on the ground who face the anger and scrutiny—while senior management retreats to boardrooms.”
As media coverage intensifies, public trust in estate agents is taking another battering.
Macbeth said: “You sling mud at one and everybody gets covered.
“The story might name Connells and Purplebricks, but the public reads ‘estate agents’, and that paints us all with the same brush.
“This reputational contagion is not just damaging—it’s demoralising.
“The staff are just following instructions. They’re the ones who are going to have to deal with this, and it’s their commission, their stress, their mental health that will be hit.
“Everyone else just disappears into the background and waits for it to blow over.”
EYE OPINION – A weak enforcement regime means Conditional Selling will not stop
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