NW of England agency Town & Country has reached an informal agreement with the Advertising Standards Authority(ASA)  after a complaint about one of its ads.

The ASA had received a complaint that a property was advertised on Rightmove as freehold when it was in fact leasehold.

Misleading

Ads on the Rightmove app and website said the property in Chester was a ‘Tenure freehold’, and the unnamed complainant said they were misleading.

ASA says: “Town and Country told us that had received confirmation that it was a freehold property. The seller had purchased the freehold.”

Not updated

But Land Registry had not completed the paperwork, and the freehold title had not been updated.

The seller’s solicitor provided Town and Country with documents showing the part transfer of the registered title, and this confirmed the date that the seller had purchased the freehold.

Matter closed

“Town and Country provided assurance that future ads will contain important information about the registration of the title, if, for example, it has not yet been officially registered.

“As such, we considered the matter closed,” the ASA says.

Town & Country has branches in Chester (main picture), Wrexham and Oswestry, dealing with sales and lettings. The company also runs property auctions.

Expansion plans

In 2022, The Neg reported company plans to expand its auctions business into eight new territories including London, Birmingham, Herts/Beds/Bucks, Devon, Cornwall, Cumbria, Liverpool/The Wirral and Cheshire/Staffordshire/Shropshire.

To coincide with the expansion push, the firm rebranded and re-launched its online platform backed by a major auctions tech provider.

Picture: Google Street View