An over-enthusiastic member of staff at a branch of Haart Estate Agents in Nottingham has sent out prospecting letters to Purplebricks vendors that incorrectly suggested the hybrid agency is suffering from a ‘lack of funds’.

Purplebricks customer and Nottingham University employee Dan Hodgett, who has now sold his £120,000 two-bedroom terraced house (pictured, above) in the Forest Hills area of the city via the hybrid agency, received one of the letters in mid-November and visited the Haart branch to complain.

The letter offered Haart as an alternative ‘should Mr Hodgett require the services of an estate agent at short notice’.

Mr Hodgett (pictured, left), along with other local recipients of the letter, has now been issued with an apology for any distress the original communication caused.

This appears to have confused Purplebricks with its former online rival eMoov, which is now in administration.

“The letters were sent out in error to a small number of recipients by an over-enthusiastic member of staff who had not received head office approval,” a Haart spokesperson told local website NottinghamLive.

“Unfortunately he mistakenly claimed that Purplebricks were having financial issues when it was, in fact, a different online agency that was experiencing problems and which has subsequently gone into administration.

“After this emerged, we apologised unreservedly to Purplebricks who accepted our apology, plus we wrote and apologised to the recipients of the original letters.

“We have reviewed our internal procedures and requested that any marketing letters are sent to our head office for approval first.”