Agent lawsuit accuses Zillow of illegal tying with mortgage platform

Zillow is facing yet another lawsuit tied to its lead generation platform and Zillow Home Loans (ZHL).

Filed on Friday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington by Stephanie Dupuis, the team leader and owner of a Kitsap County-based real estate team, the lawsuit claims that Zillow created an illegal tying arrangement between its marketing platform and ZHL and violated both state and antitrust laws. 

According to the complaint, Zillow is a “monopoly power” and agents like Dupuis feel it is “impossible to do business” without Zillow being involved in at least part of their business. It is due to this that Dupuis said she and her team felt like they needed to get into the Zillow ecosystem, signing an agreement to become a Preferred Agent.

Zillow recently rebranded its invite-only Flex program to Zillow Preferred. In the filing, Dupuis claims that under the Preferred Agent program, the fee an agent pays to Zillow varies depending on the sales price of the home, with fees running up to 40% of the agent’s commission. She claims that this is above the typical referral fee of 25%. According to Dupuis, agents are willing to pay these fees as Zillow leads are an “essential” source of business for many. 

According to the complaint, Zillow tracks the number of referrals Premier and Preferred agents send to ZHL through Follow Up Boss (FUB), and that an agent’s rating in the FUB system corresponds with the number of clients they send to ZHL for mortgage pre-approval. Dupuis goes on to claim that the higher an agent’s rating is in FUB, the more leads Zillow sends them.

“Conversely, the lowest rating agents risk getting cut from the program,” the complaint states. “In other words, a Premier agent who fails to direct their clients to ZHL will see their business slow to a trickle.” 

According to the complaint, Dupuis and her legal team view this an an “illegal tying arrangement,” and claims that Zillow is using its alleged monopoly power to “extract outsize commissions and steer agents and consumers alike to inferior financial products.”

Zillow has maintained that it does not require any agents who are part of its programs to send clients to ZHL for their mortgage needs. 

“This complaint tells a one‑sided story that does not reflect how Zillow Preferred partners serve buyers or how we work with real estate agents,” a Zillow spokesperson wrote in an email. “Consumers are always in control of which agent and lender they work with, and Zillow supports agents who deliver strong outcomes for buyers by sharing clear information and helping them understand what they can afford. Referral fees in the Zillow Preferred program are paid between businesses and are consistent with industry practices. These arrangements do not change the fees consumers can negotiate with their agent. We will defend ourselves against these claims, while we stay focused on delivering a better real estate experience for buyers, sellers, renters and the professionals who serve them.” 

Pressure to steer?

Dupuis claims that her team began feels pressure to “steer” clients to ZHL for their pre-approval shortly after she was told her team needed to sign up for FUB by September 1, 2025, or face being kicked out of the Preferred Agent program, which she and the team had been members of since 2022 after eight years in the Premier Agent program. 

According to the complaint, Dupuis and her team “refused” to steer clients to ZHL, and she claims she and her team were punished by Zillow for doing so.

“Ms. Dupuis could see in FUB that Zillow was penalizing her team for low ZHL pre-approval rates,” the complaint states. 

According to the complaint, her team members were only rated as “fair” or “low” in FUB, “with comments indicating that the ratings were due to only ‘fair’ or ‘low’ ZHL pre-approvals.” 

Additionally, the complaint includes a screenshot allegedly from the Zillow platform indicating that Zillow was capping the number of leads Dupuis’ agents were receiving due to their low ZHL pre-approvals. 

The complaint also claims that the team had its Zillow Showcase account terminated in December 2025, which they believe is tied to their refusal to send clients to ZHL for their mortgage pre-approval. 

Despite these claims, unlike the recently combined Taylor and Armstrong suits, which make similar claims, Dupuis does not claim that Zillow’s alleged actions are in violation of the  Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA).

Dupuis is demanding a jury trial, damages and injunctive relieve to prevent Zillow from continuing its alleged “unlawful, unfair and deceptive practices.”