A flier circulated in Manchester by a national property buying agency designed to resemble a red and white Post Office ‘missed delivery’ card can be used again following two recently complaints from the public to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The cards, which the complainants said they believed was not obviously identifiable as marketing material, were designed by Property Purchased Fast to copy some design elements of a Post Office missed delivery card.

This included an apparently handwritten reference number and a request to contact a named contact and mobile number, as well as the words ‘Sorry we missed you’.

After being contacted by the ASA, the company said the card was marked “sufficiently clearly” with their company name, a reference number and contact details, as well as text on the front that stated “We want to offer you a FREE valuation” and a list of services. The ASA concurred.

“They believed these elements made the nature of Property Purchased Fast’s business and/or the purpose of the circular clear,” the ASA says.

“We considered it could be taken to mean that a caller with a business purpose had been unable to obtain an answer, rather than that it had not been possible to deliver an item of post.”

Other cases

But two other property firms in unrelated cases did have to remove adverts following an ASA probe this week. Estate agent Hazle and Co based in Emsworth, Hampshire agreed not to repeat claims made in its advertising that it was the “No.1” and “favourite” estate agent in the area. This followed a complaint from competitor Treaagust & Co.

And in Glasgow an online ad for a student accommodation firm that offered to rent property “from two weeks” but in fact required a minimum stay period of four weeks, will also not be used again. The advert was placed by national student property portal the Unite Group.