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Historic estate agency asked to change property ads after complaint

Complaint to Advertising Standards Authority shows how careful estate agency listers have to be even when posting on own website.

Nigel Lewis

nock deighton estate agency

Seven-branch Midlands estate agency Nock Deighton has been slapped on the wrists by the national Advertising Standards Authority after one of its listings was referred to it by a member of the public.

Nock Deighton, which covers Worcestershire and Somerset with a head office in Bridgnorth, published two adverts on its own website for building which included the claim: “Building plot with planning permission for a four bedroomed detached house with a double garage”.

But the complainant challenged whether the ads were misleading as they understood that the planning for the site only gave permission for two detached properties and one single garage.

They also understood that planning permission had been refused for a double garage.

Planning permission

The estate agency has acknowledged that the information in the ad was incorrect and that the approved planning permission had only granted a single garage to be built.

“They provided their assurance that both ads would be amended,” an ASA spokesperson says.

The ASA code states that: “Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.”

Nock Deighton is one of the UK’s oldest estate agencies and has recently been a keen supporter of Michael Bruce’s two recent initiatives, Agents Together and Boomin.

November 11, 2020

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