OFFICIAL: Tenant referencing firm made ‘misleading claims’ in ads
The Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint that some statements made by Homeppl could not be substantiated.
Tenant referencing firm Homeppl has been ordered to change the wording of its ads after they were found to be misleading.
Homeppl was told that some claims made by the company could not be substantiated and must not appear in adverts again, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said.
The claims, which appeared on the Homeppl website and in an email to customers, were the subject of a complaint to the ASA from rival company Barbon Insurance Group.
Homeppl made comparisons with Let Alliance, part of the Barbon group, boasting that it approved more referencing applications and from a wider section of the population.
The company also said on its website that it approved 25% more reference applications than any UK competitor and in an email that it was the only company to identify tenancy fraud.
Misleading
The ASA ruled against Homeppl, and warned the firm to ensure it must be able to back up any claims made. The watchdog said: “We therefore concluded that the claim “we can approve 25% rental applications than any of our UK competitors [sic]” was misleading.”
“No other referencing company identifies tenancy fraud” in ad (b) had not been substantiated and was therefore misleading.”
The authority continued: “The claims must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Homeppl Ltd to ensure they held adequate evidence to substantiate comparative claims in the future, and to ensure claims with identifiable competitors were verifiable.”
Response
In response to the ruling, Homeppl boss Alexander Siedes did not comment directly about the criticisms within the ASA ruling, telling The Neg: “Fortune 500 and public companies choose Homeppl because it protects them against fraudsters and helps them approve more applicants from all backgrounds. We will continue to protect our clients from the rising threat of tenancy fraud while creating inclusion within the rental market.”
Read more about ASA decisions concerning property firms.