Note: This advice is given by the CAP Executive about non-broadcast advertising. It does not constitute legal advice. It does not bind CAP, CAP advisory panels or the Advertising Standards Authority.
The estate agent market is highly competitive and it is common for ads to include claims such as “Market Leaders”, “Leading Estate Agent”, “Premier” or “Top Selling Agent” (Keith Ashton Estates Ltd, 30 April 2008, and Aitchinson Rofferty Ltd, 24 October 2007). As with other sectors, objective superiority claims need to be substantiated and the ASA generally considers “leading” or “Number 1” claims to relate to sales or market share. See ‘Types of claims’.
Over the years, the ASA has investigated and upheld several complaints about the use of those types of claims when they have been based on the analysis of “sold” or “for sale” board presence. Because not every estate agent is guaranteed to put a board outside a property and evidence suggests boards are unscrupulously placed by some agents, potential for discrepancies arises between the number of boards an agent has placed and the number of properties an agent has sold or has on its books. The ASA has therefore concluded that counting board presence is an inadequate method of substantiating comparative claims about property sales (Ashtons Estate Agents Ltd, 3 September 2008, Cooper Estates Harborough Ltd, 25 Jan 2006; David Muir Estate Agents, 3 March 2004, and Hammond Harwood Estate Agents, 23 April 2003).
Marketers should be aware that, if board counting has been undertaken by an independent third party, basing comparative claims on such analysis has been found to be misleading (Keatons Estate Agents, 31 March 2004). Marketers who want to make claims based on board counting should make the basis of the claim explicit and should state clearly that signs do not necessarily equate to completed sales (Michael Hardy Estate Agents, 30 July 2007).
Estate agents that make claims, including comparative ones, need to ensure the claims are true and verifiabile (Savills plc, 26 March 2008). And marketers should hold evidence for claims that they are an “independent” estate agent or have been “established since 19XX” (Barry Allsuch and Co LLP, 21 May 2008). Obviously properties featured should be available for sale and descriptions or visuals should not mislead (Re/Max Estate Agency, 21 November 2007).
Last modified : 29 March 2012