Fake False Advertising For Sale Board on Property by new Estate Agency

JasonRB

WHAT IS THE LAW REGARDING ESTATE AGENTS FAKE / FALSE ADVERTISING OF A PROPERTY USING A FOR SALE BOARD?
Since January 2020 a SIGNAGE BOARD has been up on the front garden iron fencing of a building with 3 flats in the street next to mine 
The sign is non specific about which particular flat is For Sale.  It just has the AGENTS NAME on it and states that they are NOW OPEN
I have watched the agents website keenly since the sign went up, so I could get the particulars and see if I could afford it.  
This property was not online when the board went up, and still isn't now, almost 5 months later (even without photos). 

I presumed as it is placed in the garden, it belonged to the garden flat.  (I am very keen to buy a garden property ASAP - various pressures and problems - won't bore you with them!)
So I made enquiries with 
  (a) people sitting in the garden when I passed by (they knew nothing about which flat was actually for sale, but were pretty sure it was not the garden flat as they were renting it long term, and their landlord had not told them he was the one selling, but each flat had a different owner); and then 
  (b) telephoned the Estate Agency, who told me there was nothing currently for sale at this address

It is now imperative that I MOVE as quickly as possible.  But I am angry that the street / council can allow the area to be littered with fake boards!
Where do I go to complain about illegal / false advertising and timewasting?  This seems like some kind of bait and switch trick.  
Does anyone know the law about Estate Agents boards - if they can advertise nothing, how long they can stay up, and if they must specify which flat it relates to?

<Apologies for the rant, but I feel my time has been wasted and hopes raised at a time where every minute is precious and I hate street litter and fake ads>

greatcrested

You complain initially to the estate agent.

Then to the EA's ombudsman scheme (check which they belong to and read their code of conduct)

and then to the council - who probably have better things to worry about/deal with to be honest.

* The Property Ombudsman
* Property Redress Scheme

https://www.reading.gov.uk/media/6189/Rules-and-regulations-for-displaying-estate-agents-boards/pdf/Web_information_on_ESTATE_AGENT_BOARDS.pdf

HampshireH

So the board says the agent name and now open.

That just sounds like they have been given permission to install an advertising board for their business.

It doesn't say "For sale" (or if if does you havent said so)  or does it say "For sale" before the agents name?

Ive seen boards before go up purely for advertising purposes like this. (See more in bushes discarded but still....)

[Deleted User]

So you waited 5 MONTHS !! You never picked up the phone as soon as the board went up to enquire and now you are angry that your time has been wasted - when you could have clarified the position in a simple phone call ? If garden flats are rare where you are, next time you need to act a bit faster and enquire immediately 

Hasbeen

JasonRB said:

WHAT IS THE LAW REGARDING ESTATE AGENTS FAKE / FALSE ADVERTISING OF A PROPERTY USING A FOR SALE BOARD?
Since January 2020 a SIGNAGE BOARD has been up on the front garden iron fencing of a building with 3 flats in the street next to mine 
The sign is non specific about which particular flat is For Sale.  It just has the AGENTS NAME on it and states that they are NOW OPEN
I have watched the agents website keenly since the sign went up, so I could get the particulars and see if I could afford it.  
This property was not online when the board went up, and still isn't now, almost 5 months later (even without photos). 

I presumed as it is placed in the garden, it belonged to the garden flat.  (I am very keen to buy a garden property ASAP - various pressures and problems - won't bore you with them!)
So I made enquiries with 
  (a) people sitting in the garden when I passed by (they knew nothing about which flat was actually for sale, but were pretty sure it was not the garden flat as they were renting it long term, and their landlord had not told them he was the one selling, but each flat had a different owner); and then 
  (b) telephoned the Estate Agency, who told me there was nothing currently for sale at this address

It is now imperative that I MOVE as quickly as possible.  But I am angry that the street / council can allow the area to be littered with fake boards!
Where do I go to complain about illegal / false advertising and timewasting?  This seems like some kind of bait and switch trick.  
Does anyone know the law about Estate Agents boards - if they can advertise nothing, how long they can stay up, and if they must specify which flat it relates to?

<Apologies for the rant, but I feel my time has been wasted and hopes raised at a time where every minute is precious and I hate street litter and fake ads>

So your title is a little bit misleading? It is not a For Sale Board? It is a board on a railing saying the estate agents are now open?


Or does it actually say for sale? Your post is unclear.


So where does "we are now open" equate to illegal, fake, false advertising and timewasting?



And one board amounts to the area being littered with fake boards? Please clarify.


Perhaps the Landlord gets a few ££££ for allowing the sign to be placed there?  

eddddy

The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2007 specifies what type of advertising needs consent from the local planning authority, and what doesn't need consent.

From your description, it sounds like that advertising board requires consent. So I guess your options include:

1. Ask the EA if they have consent from the local planning authority for the advertising board, and if they don't - ask them to take it down
2. Ask the local planning authority if the EA has consent for the advertising board. If the EA doesn't, the local authority might issue an enforcement notice on the EA, requiring them to remove it.

(TBH - I'd be pretty certain that they don't have consent...)

Or you could just ignore it, if you want.

greatcrested

Once again:

https://www.reading.gov.uk/media/6189/Rules-and-regulations-for-displaying-estate-agents-boards/pdf/Web_information_on_ESTATE_AGENT_BOARDS.pdf

Davesnave

Fake False Advertising For Sale Board on Property by new Estate Agency

I'm confused. Surely, if it's fake false advertising, that makes it genuine advertising, albeit not clear exactly what's being advertised?

hazyjo

The chances of a flat in that block ticking all your boxes would be very lucky indeed so I have no idea why it would make you feel you've wasted your time or made you angry.

Most blocks with flats for sale will have a board in the front grounds - unless the lease says they're not allowed in which case it would prob be placed in one of their windows or they'd go without. I certainly wouldn't have presumed it belonged to a ground floor flat!

Just look at the internet and keep in close contact with local agents. If it's got a board, it'll more than likely be on rightmove.

Have you checked Zoopla to see when the last flat sold in that block? Perhaps nobody has asked the board suppliers to take an old one down.

HampshireH

eddddy said:

The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 2007 specifies what type of advertising needs consent from the local planning authority, and what doesn't need consent.

From your description, it sounds like that advertising board requires consent. So I guess your options include:

1. Ask the EA if they have consent from the local planning authority for the advertising board, and if they don't - ask them to take it down
2. Ask the local planning authority if the EA has consent for the advertising board. If the EA doesn't, the local authority might issue an enforcement notice on the EA, requiring them to remove it.

(TBH - I'd be pretty certain that they don't have consent...)

Or you could just ignore it, if you want.

Minding their own business and ignoring it would probably be best.

I get it if it were in OPs garden without consent but its in a random garden in a block OP has no connection to. Seems very OTT.

Concentrate on actually finding a suitable property would perhaps be a better use of energy.

princeofpounds

Quite an indignant initial post there OP...

Anyway, there are basically two scenarios here:

- it’s a plain advertising board. As pointed out that needs planning permission, which it likely won’t have.

- it’s a property marketing board which is up under the general approval for real estate marketing. Greatcrested has linked to those rules. The relevant one is that it must be linked to a specific property and removed within 14 days after transaction.

I’ve actually complained (nicely) about boards in my road in the past. The EAs usually took them down within days without fuss. Turns out the local authority and trading standards was actually much more hot on the issue than you might expect, because the tendency was for boards to proliferate without a bit of management (it was an urban area where it was easy to fix boards onto blocks of flats). Often it was as much through laziness as it was a desire for brand presence; the agents would forget to inform the contractor to pick it up, as it’s not as important as sticking it up in the first place (probably barely worth the money to recover!)

So don’t feel you have to fume away, the rules are pretty clear.