Owner complains about home listed on Zoopla when it wasn’t for sale

The owner of a home for sale has complained to the Advertising Standards Authority after seeing it marketed on Zoopla - when it wasn’t even for sale.

Few details have been released about the error but the listing was by Move Inn Estates, an agency based at Hounslow in Middlesex. 

The ASA contacted the agency which assured the authority that the listing would be removed; as a result the case was declared ‘informally resolved’ and requiring no further action.

Two other issues relating to property have been dealt with by the ASA this week.

One concerned a door-to-door leaflet delivered on behalf of Rain Properties, trading as quick buy company Property Purchased Fast.

A complaint to the ASA challenged whether the claims on the leaflet that the company was “As seen on: The Sunday Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard, CNN, thisismoney, The Independent and Ft.com” and “We are also registered with the ICO (Data Protection)” could be substantiated.

The advertiser provided evidence to substantiate it was registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. 

However, the ASA instructed the advertiser that the use of logos of the various companies on the leaflet was misleading and to make the necessary changes.

Finally a direct mailing from property finance company AX 365 Property Services Ltd implied that the recipient’s home could be repossessed.

A complainant challenged whether the ad caused distress and was not clearly labelled as marketing material.

The advertiser confirmed that it would amend the mailing to make clear it was marketing material and to avoid causing fear or distress by implying that consumers could lose their home through repossession.