Leading estate agent changes website after complaint to advertising watchdog
Edinburgh-based MOV8 agrees to amend copy after complaint that its fixed estate agency fee claim may have been misleading.
A high profile Scottish estate agent has been forced to amend its website after claims that it offers a ‘fixed estate agency fee’ were challenged by a member of the public.
MOV8 Real Estate, which is both a firm of solicitors and an estate agency, is based in Edinburgh and has been for several weeks running a banner on its website that promotes a £795 fixed fee service, as long as vendors enquire before 31 May this year.
But an unidentified member of the public spotted that their fixed-fee service does not include conveyancing costs and other compulsory charges including search fees.
The complainant reported the claim to the fixed estate agency fee (ASA) and challenged whether it was misleading because it did not make clear other compulsory charges and fees were not included in the fixed fee.
“We approached the advertiser with the concerns that had been raised and it agreed to amend its website,” the ASA says.
The company has now modified its web pages and added the rider “Note that selling a property may involve costs other than estate agency fees”.
MOV8, whose name appears to be a play on the phrase ‘move it’ when said fast enough, has been trading for 11 years and, by offering low-cost combined conveyancing and property sales, claims to now be the largest company of its kind in East Central Scotland and that it sells the largest number of properties in the area.
It has 46 employees, a single branch in the western suburbs of Edinburgh and currently lists 392 properties for sale or STC on Rightmove. It also has a mortgage brokerage called MOV8 Financial, which is not involved in the ASA case.
