Estate agent yet to amend ‘misleading’ claim on website following ASA investigation

A Scottish estate agency that had promised to take down a claim made on its website following an investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has so far not done so. The claim by Perthshire agency Next Home was brought to the attention of the ASA recently by a member of the public. Featured on the home page of the sales and lettings agency’s website, it claimed that “nine out of then sellers choose Next Home”. The complainant challenged whether this claim was misleading and could be substantiated. After being contacted by the ASA, Next Home provided the advertising watchdog with assurances that the claim would be amended and the matter was resolved informally. But the claim remains live on its home page at the time of publication (see right), while an amended version is featured on subsequent pages. These claim instead that ‘9 out of 10 sellers we visited in 2017 instructed us to sell’ with a qualification in later small print that the claim relates to 2017. Next Home has five branches in Perthshire including in Perth, Auchterarder, Crieff, Blairgowie and Pitlochry and is fond of making punchy claims on its site, although none of these others have…