ASA Adjudication on Barkers Estate Agents

Ad

An ad on a property search website stated "Barkers is Shenley's Estate Agent ... The first and leading agent - with a singular focus on Shenley village and its surrounding area."

Issue

Shenley Estates challenged whether Barkers could substantiate that they were Shenley's "leading" estate agent.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Barkers Estate Agents (Barkers) asserted that their partners had over 70 years combined experience in agency property marketing; they believed Shenley Estates had only four or five years experience. They asserted that they were the first estate agent in Shenley and had been trading there for over 12 years; they believed Shenley Estates had been in Shenley for around two years.

Barkers maintained that one or two months of good sales, which they believed Shenley Estates might have experienced, was not sufficient to take over their position as the "leading" agent in Shenley. They argued that they were the leading agent because they had the most local knowledge, estate agent and property marketing experience, experience of the Shenley property market, established longevity, customers and sales.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA considered that readers were likely to infer from the ad that Barkers sold more properties in the Shenley area than any other estate agent. We noted the rationale Barkers had given for their assertion that they were the leading agents in Shenley. However, because we had not seen evidence to show that Barkers had sold more properties than any other estate agent in the Shenley area over a recent and reasonable period of time during which there had been competition in the area, we considered that the claim "leading agent" was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 19.1 (Other comparisons).

Action

We told Barkers not to refer to themselves as Shenleys "leading" estate agents unless they held evidence of sales to substantiate the claim.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)