The ad claimed to have ‘All legal fees covered. Up to market value paid. Clear all your debts now’.
Challenging the claims set out in the ad, the complainant questioned whether the statements could be substantiated, and whether the ad breached the advertising code as it omitted material information about the identity of the advertiser.
The ASA upheld three of four of the complaints made against the business owner, Ken Ajoku, including the claims: ‘All legal fees covered’, ‘Up to market value paid’ and ‘Clear all your debts now’.
It said the business required evidence to demonstrate it could carry out its claims in practice. Without such evidence, the ASA concluded the claims could not be substantiated and were likely to mislead.
Despite the complainant’s fourth concern that the ad could mislead because it did not include the name of the advertiser, the watchdog noted that information was provided about the nature of the business as well as some of the advantages and benefits to selling a property to the firm rather than on the open market.
The ASA found the ad was not in breach of misleading advertising rules as it disclosed the business’s commercial interest and considered consumers would understand the advertiser’s intentions.
In its final ruling, the regulator said the ad must not appear again in its current form and warned the firm it must respond to all future enquiries.
