The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has turned down a complaint made against a website ad for Property Rescue Ltd.
The ad on www.propertyrescue.co.uk, seen on 28 September 2015, included the claim “At Property Rescue, we guarantee to buy your home for cash and can exchange within 2 days”.
The complainant challenged whether the claim “we … can exchange within 2 days” was misleading and could be substantiated.
Property Rescue Ltd said that when contacted by a prospective seller, their buying team explained the way they worked, their processes and timescales. If the seller was interested in receiving an offer for their property they would ascertain the full details of the property, financial situation and requirements. Their underwriting team would then decide whether to make an offer, and if one was made, it was to suit the seller’s circumstances. If a seller requested an urgent exchange of contracts, or if their circumstances required it, the underwriters would prioritise the file and an offer could be made very quickly. If accepted by the seller, the transaction would then be set up to facilitate that. They highlighted that it was rare for sellers to request a two-day contract exchange turnaround as in most instances they would want to review and consider the contract papers and discuss any queries with their solicitor.
As examples, they provided details of two instances in 2013 where they had exchanged contracts within two days on the request of a seller, and one in 2014 where they had exchanged contracts within four days at the request of the seller. They also provided an email from their conveyancing solicitors in which the solicitors confirmed that they had proceeded with exchange of contracts within 48 hours of initial instruction for several properties purchased by Property Rescue. Property Rescue said there had not been any instances where they had been unable to exchange contracts within two days when requested by the seller.
Property Rescue acknowledged that the complainant’s property purchase had taken around five months, but said that he had not requested that contracts be exchanged within two days and so their offer was not issued on that basis. They added that the exchange had been delayed due to the time it took for documents to be issued by the freeholder of the complainant’s property.
The ASA considered consumers would understand the claim to mean that it was possible for Property Rescue to exchange contracts within two days if necessary, rather than that they always, or usually, did so.
The ad watchdog said it understood that Property Rescue provided the two-day contract exchange service when requested by sellers, but that it was relatively rare for sellers to make such a request. It noted the statement from Property Rescue’s conveyancing solicitors, and the details Property Rescue had provided about two contract exchanges that had been undertaken at the seller’s request within two days. The ASA considered that was adequate evidence to support the claim that it was possible for Property Rescue to exchange contracts within two days and therefore concluded the claim was not misleading.
The ASA investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.11 (Exaggeration), but did not find it in breach. Therefore no further action was necessary.