No action over ad claiming flats were 'waterfront' - when they weren't

The latest round of complaints made to the Advertising Standards Authority against property firms’ ads have once again ended only with ‘informal resolution’ of the cases.

One was against property investment company Aspen Woolf which advertised the Viewpoint apartments in Salford on its website with a claim ‘Stunning Waterfront Location’ when in fact the scheme was not on the waterfront.

“We contacted the advertiser who corrected the heading used on their webpage” says a spokeswoman for the ASA.

In a statement to Estate Agent Today, Aspen Woolf said: “The landing page in question was just a simple mistake that was not picked up when proofing the page. The copy ‘Stunning Waterfront Location’ was part of the page template and not removed before the landing page went live. We removed the line as soon as it was brought to our attention as we never want to mislead valued clients.”

Also informally resolved was a complaint about the website for student housing promoted by Greystar Real Estate. 

The complainant challenged whether the claim "We set rent payments in line with your student loan, with a small first instalment before you move-in then three further payments" was misleading. The complainant said payments from Student Finance England did not match the required dates for payments to be made to the scheme in question. 

“We contacted the advertiser who removed the claim and amended the website to ensure specific payment dates were made clear” says the ASA.

Finally, and again resolved informally, there was a complaint about an advertisement on the website of Persimmon Homes in reference to its Clarence Place development in Bracknell. 

The complainant challenged whether the claim “Clarence Place is part of the vibrant new community of Jennett’s Park – perfectly designed for modern living with facilities including a primary school, local shops and a pub” was misleading as they understood the shop and pub were yet to be built. 

“We contacted the advertiser who amended the ad to make clear what facilities were currently available” says the ASA spokeswoman.

Earlier this month Estate Agent Today asked the ASA what constituted a complaint that was judged to be ‘informally resolved’ rather than requiring further action.