Advertisment
The advertisement showcased a house for sale and was seen on the advertisers’ own website. The house was advertised as having three bedrooms and one bathroom.
Complaint
The complainant considered the advertising misleading as they said that to be classified as a bedroom, a room must have two means of escape such as a door and window. They said that the floorplan clearly indicated that the house only had one bedroom and that the two other bedrooms advertised did not actually qualify as bedrooms.
The complainant noted that the advertisers removed the floorplan from the website so that potential buyers would not see that these rooms did not have windows until they visited the property.
Response
The advertisers said that the vendor of the property had advised them that the property had been let to a family of three, a mother and two children, who were clients of the local authority as a three bedroomed house. The advertisers said that in the course of their tenancy, the local authority had made inspections of the property where the two rooms in question in the complaint were used as bedrooms by the two children and no issues were raised.
The advertisers said that they noted the further information provided by the ASA Executive which defined the characteristics of a standard bedroom as advised by Dublin City Council’s Planning Department and acknowledged that the two subject rooms would not comply as bedrooms in this instance. They said that they noted these planning stipulations and would refer to these criteria in the future in order to avoid a repeat of the aforementioned oversight.
The advertisers clarified that they would not seek to bring someone to view a property only to be disappointed on arrival and said that they were not trying to mislead anyone or misrepresent the property they were selling in this or in any instance. They said that there was such a high demand for property with a small supply of available properties in comparison that there was no benefit or need for them to deliberately mislead and that this was a genuine mistake.
Conclusion
Complaint Upheld.
The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response. The Committee welcomed the advertisers’ undertaking in relation to the Dublin City Council’s Planning Department’s criteria regarding bedrooms for similar advertisements in the future.
The Complaints Committee noted the information on the planning requirements for bedrooms. They also noted that the advertised rooms did not appear to conform to these requirements and in the absence of evidence to demonstrate that the rooms did conform to the planning requirements, the Committee considered the advertising to be misleading and therefore in breach of the Code at sections 4.01, 4.04, 4.09 and 4.10.
Action Required:
The advertising should not appear in its current form.
The Committee reminded all advertisers to ensure that property advertisements accurately reflected the nature of the rooms involved.
