Estate agents warned on property claims

Tuesday, 20 September 2011 3:15 PM

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has warned estate agents and developers about making misleading claims about the properties they sell.

The government watchdog has launched a consultation on how unfair trading and misleading marketing regulations apply to estate agents. And it identifies examples of trading practices that could breach the regulations when agents do things such as market properties, negotiate and make sales and deal with complaints.

Examples include:
o Misleading photographs or out of date photos.
o Making a selling point of something like a secluded garden or peaceful area when they know it is wrong.
o Exaggerating their sales record.
o Recommending an asking price for a property that they know is unrealistic given market conditions to get the sales instruction.
o Pressurising a client to sell a property for less than its true market value.

Cavendish Elithorn, senior director of the OFT's goods and consumer group, said: “Buying a property is one of the biggest purchases people make and can also be one of the most stressful. Unfair business practices can cause substantial consumer harm and this guidance has been designed to help estate agents and property developers understand what they need to do to comply with the law.”
 

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