ASA Adjudication on Shenley Estate Agents Ltd

Ad

A regional press ad for Shenley Estates was headed "The Leading Agent for Sales in Shenley*" The asterisk was linked to smaller text immediately underneath the heading which stated "According to Land Registry Data re Sales in Shenley, WD7." Details of properties for sale and contact details followed.

Issue

Barry Allsuch & Co, a competitor estate agent, challenged whether the claim "The Leading Agent for Sales in Shenley - According to Land Registry Data re Sales in Shenley, WD7" was misleading because:

1. it did not state the period of time to which the claim "The Leading Agent for Sales in Shenley*" related, and

2. they believed Land Registry data did not identify which estate agent had handled a sale.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. & 2. Shenley Estates provided sales data that showed the properties in the Shenley, WD7 area for which they had handled the sales for 2006, 2007 and for the first six months of 2008. The data also identified other properties where Shenley Estates had not handled the sale but where, from their knowledge of the local market, they believed they could identify which of their competitors had handled the sale. They acknowledged that Land Registry data did not identify the individual estate agents that had handled the sales but believed the data they had supplied, in the context of Land Registry data that showed the total number of property sales in the same area for the same time period, substantiated the claim.

Assessment

The ASA obtained its own Land Registry data. The data showed the total number of properties that had been sold in the Shenley, WD7 area for 2006, 2007 and for the first six months of 2008. We noted that, in 2006 and 2007, Shenley Estates had handled the sale of a significant proportion, approaching half but not amounting to the majority, of properties. We noted the number of property sales in the first six months of 2008 was significantly reduced from 2006 and 2007 but that Shenley Estates's data showed they had handled more than half of these sales.

1. Not upheld

We noted from the sales information Shenley Estates had supplied that between the beginning of 2006 and June 2008 at least 12 different estate agents had handled property sales in Shenley, WD7. Of those 12, Shenley Estates and one other estate agent, Barkers, were the only estate agents that had offices in Shenley. The offices of the remaining ten agents were located in nearby towns and so would handle sales for their own areas and other, nearby areas such as Shenley. We noted the absence of evidence from any competitors that they had handled more sales in Shenley, WD7 than Shenley Estates. We also noted that some properties in Shenley had been sold through private sale and that others had been newly built properties sold direct by the relevant builder or property developer.

Because Shenley Estates had shown they had handled a significant proportion of Shenley, WD7 sales in 2006 and 2007 and the remaining sales had been split between at least 11 other estate agents, we considered it highly unlikely that any of the other estate agents would have handled the sale of more properties in 2006 and 2007.

Shenley Estates had demonstrated that they had handled the sale of more properties than any other agent in the first half of 2008.

We therefore concluded that Shenley Estates had substantiated the "leading agent" claim (not withstanding our findings below on the qualification used in conjunction with it) and did not consider the omission of the time period to which the claim referred rendered the ad misleading.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 19.1 (Other comparisons) but did not find it in breach.

2. Upheld

We noted that the ad qualified the "leading agent" claim with a reference to Land Registry data. While Shenley Estates had used Land Registry data to identify the total number of property sales that had taken place in the Shenley, WD7 area over a specific time period, Land Registry data did not identify the individual estate agent responsible for handling a particular sale. Shenley Estates had therefore needed to use their own sales data in addition to the Land Registry data to complete the substantiation for the claim. Because the claim could only be substantiated in conjunction with sales data held by individual estate agents and not by Land Registry data alone, we concluded that the claim could mislead.

On this point the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Shenley Estates to remove the qualification that their claim to be "The Leading Agent for Sales in Shenley" was based on Land Registry data alone from their ad.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)