A regional press ad for Essex Countryside has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) following a compliant by Spicerhaart.

The ad stated “£99 Introducing the cheapest way to sell your home. It sounds too good to be true, but it isn’t! From 17th July 2014, we are introducing a brand new way to buy and sell property. It guarantees you will receive the highest offer possible and cost you no more than £99. This fixed price includes your EPC, property details and floor plan […] It is set to be the biggest innovation in buying and selling property in Essex in decades”.

Spicerhaart Estate Agents Ltd challenged whether the claims “Introducing the cheapest way to sell your home” and “It guarantees you will receive the highest offer possible and cost you no more than £99” were misleading and could be substantiated.

Essex Countryside Ltd stated that when the ad went to press, they believed that no other agent in the area was offering a cheaper way to sell a vendor’s property.

The firm said said that they were the only agent within their local area who offered ‘Sale by Tender’ (SBT) and charged £99 including VAT to the vendor, who would receive an Energy Performance Certificate, floor plans and have their property advertised online and in the local area. They said that the SBT was a four-week tender process, whereby all bids were collected by a specific date. The highest bid therefore guaranteed the highest price possible for the vendor.

The ASA acknowledged that Essex Countryside believed that they were the cheapest agents in their area when the ad went to press. They did not, however, provide any documentary evidence to substantiate the claim.

In addition, the ASA noted that Essex Countryside offered consumers an SBT service when selling their properties and guaranteed that consumers would receive the highest offer made on their property. However, the ad watchdog considered that the claim “It guarantees you will receive the highest offer possible” suggested that there was no way that vendors could obtain a higher offer than through the use of the advertiser’s service.

Therefore, because the ASA had not seen any documentary evidence illustrating that Essex Countryside were the cheapest agents in their area, and that they could guarantee the highest offer possible for a vendor’s property, it concluded that the claims were misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading Advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation), 3.38 (Other Comparisons) and 3.39 (Price Comparisons) and must not appear again in its current form.

The ASA told Essex Countryside Ltd that their future advertising must not state or suggest that they were the cheapest estate agents in their area and that they could guarantee the highest offer possible for a vendor’s property, unless they possessed robust documentary evidence.