The advertising watchdog has banned an advertisement that suggested the fastest way to avoid repossession is to sell your home.
The Advertising Standards Authority decided Land & Property Bank.com Ltd’s advert placed in local press was ‘likely to mislead by omission’.
It received complaints saying statements such as ‘the simplest way to avoid repossession is to sell your home’ and ‘you can remain in your house for as long as you require’ would give the wrong impression, and ignored that there were other ways for people to avoid repossession and tenancies being offered were on a short-term basis.
Homeowners were told in the advert: ‘Local company offers homeowners fast solution’ and invited to: ‘Cash in on your house without moving’.
The ASA decided these claims and others, such as ‘equity can be raised quickly through fast property sale’ and ‘one telephone call to Land and Property Bank.Com Ltd was all it needed to solve the problem’ did not make it clear terms and conditions were attached to any agreement.
‘We considered that the advert, therefore, could exaggerate the desirability of that option over and above other options, such as negotiating with a current mortgage provider, selling on the open market or (for older homeowners) using a regulated equity release product, depending on circumstances,’ the ASA ruled.
‘We noted we had not seen evidence to show that tenants could always remain in their home for as long as they wanted to.’
It also agreed the advert was not clearly marked as an advertisement as it appeared in the form of an article with the heading ‘Cash Crisis?’ followed by a by-line ‘exclusive by John Rea’. Although, ‘advertisement’ was at the top of the page printed in small letters it was ‘considered this was not sufficiently prominent to avoid giving the impression that the advert was a piece of journalism rather than a marketing communication’.
Land & Property Bank.Com Ltd told the ASA it agreed there were other options for people and this was clearly explained to potential clients when an inspection and consultation on the property was carried out.
The organisation also said it had a number of options available for those who entered an agreement with them, from a one-month licence to life tenancy. It believed the advert was easily identifiable as a marketing tool because of the word advertisement at the top of the page.
