ASA Adjudication on Foreign Property Investment

Ad

A national press ad and a follow-up brochure, for Foreign Property Investment, advertised property for sale in Bulgaria. a. The national press ad stated "BUNGALOWS Within 5 Star Country Club Near Sunny Beach, Bulgaria ADJACENT TO PROPOSED NEW WORLD CLASS GOLF COURSE Fixed Price £78,000". The ad included a computer-generated image of a villa with a pool and an outdoor patio. Text below continued "2 Bedroom Bungalows, 2 Bathrooms, Private Swimming Pool (8m x 4m = 32m2) ... 5 Star Facilities ... Please call 0845 xxx to order your free brochure." b. The follow-up brochure stated " ... Salt Lake Country Club ... Set on 70,000 sq.m. it will be the premier site on the Black Sea coast ... The Bungalows will be situated on 400 - 500 m2 of Private Gardens with their own Private Swimming Pool (8m x 4m = 32 sq.m.) ... The Country Club is conveniently located within a short 15 minute drive to the centre of the highly sought after Sunny Beach Resort ... Features/Facilities ... 5 minutes from Sunny Beach Resort ... Bathroom ... Bath with shower over it ...". The brochure included computer-generated images of a villa with a pool and an outdoor patio.

Issue

The complainant, who had paid a £1,000 deposit for one of the bungalows and had since visited the site, challenged whether:

1. the computer-generated image in ads (a) and (b) misleadingly implied that the bungalows would have a pool and a spacious layout;

2. the dimensions of the pool and garden quoted in ads (a) and (b) and the dimensions of the private gardens quoted in ad (b) were misleading, because he believed they would be much smaller and there might not even be room for a pool at all;

3. the claim "5 minutes from Sunny Beach Resort" in ad (b) was misleading, because elsewhere in ad (b), Sunny Beach was described as being a 15-minute drive from the complex and because he had driven from the complex to Sunny Beach and had found it took 35 minutes; and

4. the claim in ad (b) that the bungalows would have a bath was misleading because the bungalow he visited only had a shower and not enough space for a bath.   

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. & 2. Foreign Property Investment (FPI) said each property in the development would have gardens measuring between 400 and 500 m2 and a private swimming pool measuring 32 m2.  They sent a copy of an anonymised contract for the purchase of one of the bungalows, in English and in Russian, titled "Preliminary Contract for the Sale of a Real Estate under Construction" which also quoted those dimensions.  FPI said all bungalows in the development were built to the same specifications and added that the dimensions of the gardens were approved by the municipality planning department.  They explained that the boundaries for each property had yet to be laid and it was therefore unclear to the naked eye how the pool and garden would look when construction works were completed.   

3. FPI said Sunny Beach was situated 23 kilometres from the development; the travel time to and from Sunny Beach took 15 minutes, depending on traffic.  They said the route followed the Bulgarian equivalent of 'A' roads.  FPI pointed out that the journey time also depended upon whether the driver had the correct directions and was familiar with driving on the opposite side of the road; both factors could add time to the journey.  They said the claim "5 minutes from Sunny Beach resort" was a misprint.

4. FPI told the ASA that each bungalow would be fitted with a bath.  They said no properties had yet been completed and suggested that the complainant had perhaps seen a partially completed property, with the bath unfitted.

Assessment

1., 2. & 4. Upheld

The ASA understood the complainant had visited a show-home at the Salt Lake Country Club while construction work was still ongoing to the rest of the development.  We noted that 190 bungalows were being built on the development and that the anonymised preliminary contract submitted by FPI was for plot two.  The contract suggested that this bungalow would have a garden measuring between 400 and 500 m2, a private swimming pool measuring 32 m2 and a bath with a shower over it.  

We acknowledged that, because work was ongoing on the site, it was difficult for FPI to prove that each bungalow would have a garden, pool and bath, as described in ads (a) and (b).  While we noted the anonymised preliminary contract supplied by FPI appeared to support the challenges listed at points 1, 2 and 4 for at least one of the bungalows, it was not conclusive evidence for the entire development.  We noted ad (b) contained a layout of the development that appeared to show some bungalows and gardens were smaller than others.  We also noted ad (b) contained a typical internal layout of a bungalow and that the bathroom featured had only a shower and not a bath.  We therefore asked FPI to send us copies of the planning approval information from the municipality planning department and any further evidence to support their claims but no further information was forthcoming.  In the absence of such evidence, we concluded that the claims were unsubstantiated and could mislead.      

On points 1, 2 and 4, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

3. Upheld

We noted FPI believed the journey time from the Salt Lake Country Club to Sunny Beach, 23 kilometres away, was 15 minutes and the journey time of five minutes quoted in ad (b) was a misprint.  We noted the complainant believed the journey took 35 minutes.  

We considered that the time taken to travel between the two locations would depend on a number of variables but understood that, to complete the journey in 15 minutes, the driver would have to travel at a speed of approximately 60 miles per hour.  While we noted the route followed the Bulgarian equivalent of 'A' roads, we considered that 15 minutes was an exaggeration of the time in which the journey could be made and considered that the ads should have stated a more realistic and typical journey time.  Because ads (a) and (b) exaggerated the journey time between Salt Lake Country Club and Sunny Beach, we concluded that they could mislead.    

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clause 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

We told FPI to remove the claims "5 minutes from Sunny Beach Resort" and "15 minute drive to the centre of the highly sought after Sunny Beach Resort" from their advertising and to ensure that any future claims about the size of the bungalows, gardens and pools and whether or not bathrooms were equipped with baths were backed up by satisfactory supporting evidence.  They should not imply that all bungalows had the same facilities or measurements if this was not the case.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)