Central London agency Portico has removed a property listing from Rightmove after intervention by the Advertising Standards Authority.
The ASA received a complaint asking whether a listing for a rental property on Rightmove, described by Portico as “available now”, was in fact misleading because it already had tenants.
“We approached the advertiser to seek assurances that either the listing would be amended to state that the property was let, or that it would be removed from Rightmove” says a spokesman for the authority.
The advertiser confirmed that the property would no longer be advertised and the case was judged to be informally resolved.
This is not the first time Portico has fallen foul of the ASA over its listings on portals.
In February it was warned that if there was a repeat of issues concerning its listings on portals, it may face a formal investigation by the ASA.
This followed an earlier complaint about two listings on Zoopla placed by Portico, which alleged that the two properties in question had already been let.
The complainant “challenged whether the ads were misleading” according to the authority.
The ASA approached Portico which said it “would ensure not to publish listings as available on Zoopla or Rightmove that were already let.”
A statement to Estate Agent Today by the authority then said: “On that basis we closed the case informally; however we made clear that if the matter arises again we will likely go down the formal investigation route.
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A further investigation is probably needed, a repeated mistake to advertise to let when the property is occupied, the agent is doing holiday let? Airbnb? without landlords knowing about it. It just does not make sense. Did anyone check with the landlords? the tenants?
Rightmove has many misleading adverts, which they know about, which they refuse to do anything about.
We should encourage Rightmove, Onthemarket, Zoopla,... to work with landlords directly.
It will be easier to control who is doing what and who is right or wrong.
They still can work with agents to give them better price as a wholesale, which they are doing it already. why not open to landlords to place an advertisement to avoid monopolising the market.
Sounds like they are trying improve their rankings on Rightmove/Zoopla. Shows a lack of confidence in their service.
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