The chief executive of property web portal Propertyindex.com is calling on the UK’s 125,000 estate agents to stop paying their TV licence fees.
Lee Bramzell made the plea after the BBC launched a programme called Axe the Agent?, which he claimed advocated that the British public not use estate agents.
In a letter to BBC director general Mark Thompson, Bramzell writes: “Estate agents are expected to pay their TV licence fee, yet the BBC uses this money to create a show which could result in the loss of their jobs and their ability to pay the licence fee. I unequivocally believe that estate agents are absolutely essential.”
BBC divisional adviser Paul Kettle responded to Bramzell, saying that the programme-makers had “no intention to deprive estate agents of their livelihood” and that Axe the Agent? complied with the BBC’s editorial guidelines.
