South London-based Beresford Property was the subject of a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over a listing on property portal Rightmove.
The complainant argued the listing was misleading as they were told the property was not available to view, despite the listing being live on the portal.
The ASA stepped in to instruct Beresford to remove the ad if the property was unavailable, as well as to “ensure that future adverts feature only those properties which are available to view”.
Craig Wilder, director of Beresford, said that the matter was resolved “promptly” as soon as it was brought to the firm’s attention.
He added: “We advised the ASA that we seek to remove properties that are unavailable to view at the earliest opportunity, however there are occasions where we are waiting for tenants to sign a tenancy agreement, so whilst the property is still available, viewings may be on hold. In this instance we register interest from enquirers so that we can contact them should viewings recommence. The ASA confirmed that they accepted this condition and the complaint has now been closed.”
In recent months the ASA has been forced to act over a host of outdated ads from estate agents. In July an advert from Sequence ‒ an appointed representative of Connells ‒ was pulled after the regulator got involved. Meanwhile Houser was rapped for running an ad for a property based on information first used when it was listed back in 2016.
