Rightmove to trial online commercial property purchasing

The online real estate portal is trialling an option to enable buyers to submit offers and exchange contracts digitally on selected commercial properties.

Rightmove is set to use buying and selling platform, Clicktopurchase, on a six-month trial basis for properties marketed by estate agency Singer Veille.

Offers may be submitted by private treaty, ‘best offers’, or during a real-time auction, depending upon the method of sale selected by the commercial selling agent and vendor.

Acceptance of an offer results in an instant legal contract execution and the transaction audit trail and contract are anchored in Blockchain.

Rightmove’s head of commercial Alex Solomon explained trialling a route to this technology through Rightmove will give potential buyers “the chance to do everything online, from property search to legal exchange”, and by offering this to the “UK’s biggest commercial property audience we’ll find out how much of an appetite there is for a solution like this.”

Clicktopurchase is a buying and selling platform that facilitates a legally binding exchange of contracts online. Property worth £225m has been bought using the platform since it was launched in the UK and Ireland.

Neil Singer, director of Singer Vielle and CEO of Clicktopurchase, said: “Our aim is to help make commercial building transactions move more quickly and smoothly, and the platform is allowing this to happen.

“The uncertainty and exposure of being ‘under offer’ is removed, alleviating risk for both buyer and seller.”

The properties available on Rightmove range from a £20m plus office building in Mayfair to a £300,000 retail building in Yorkshire.

Rightmove currently has no plans to extend the trial to residential listings.