The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is the latest body within the industry to warn its members against portal juggling.
Following statements in recent weeks from National Trading Standards, the National Association of Estate Agents and The Property Ombudsman, RICS has now posted a message on its website.
It explains that portal juggling is a practice which markets a property as ‘new to the market’ when it is not. The RICS site then carries a message from John Baguley of Ombudsman Services:Property.
“The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPRs) clearly sets out what is required of estate agents and that customers must be treated fairly” he says.
“Unfairness can arise from giving false or misleading information to consumers, or hiding or failing to provide material information to consumers.
“The CPRs specifically define inaccurate marketing as an action which would materially affect a buyer’s decision and therefore, because of that, would fall foul of CPRs.
“The CPRs state that the misuse of words and phrases, such as ‘new instruction’, ‘new’ or ‘new on the market’, when the property for sale has already been on the market for some time or has been taken off the market previously for only a very short period, would be seen as a material breach” he concludes.
The RICS statement goes on to say that the insitution’s own Blue Book and Ombudsman Services - the scheme approved by RICS to provide redress for its members - can advise agents on issues related to the problem.
The statement then goes on to says that “If there is an allegation of portal juggling...investigation will consider the complaint against the relevant rules, which includes the Blue Book and CPRs.”
It adds that any RICS member agent who is in The Property Ombudsman should also read its code to ensure it complies with its requirements.
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Very glad to see the RICS finally making a statement on this fraud. It is not just the fact that consumers are being misled by falsely advertised listing dates but, that the portals then 'launder' and legitimise this data into charts allowing those agents to then defraud both sellers and investors.
Sorry I am a bit thick - who has been defrauded of anything?
i dont condone the use of 'new instruction' when its not - but i cant make the leap from that, to being defrauded.
Agents who are doing this are using the system to make it look like they have a shorter average marketing time - so yes, I would suggest that is fraud...
sounds to me like its a solution looking for a problem..............
This article may help:
Portal juggling – What is it, and why you should care | PDQ Property In West Cornwall http://bit.ly/portaljuggle
Well done to the RICS. A ridiculous practice that needs to be stopped.
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