Somerset agent kicks up a stink with mailshot campaign

Those of a delicate disposition should, as they say, look away now. Possibly with a hankie clutched over their noses.

Our friend, the controversial Glastonbury estate agent Julian Bending, has created a real stink with his latest mailshot.

Cards from his Real Ralph Bending estate agency bear the words: “Fart in my room you will have to pay me £1. So don’t fart in my room. R.”

People who received these have been queuing up to tell the local newspaper how odious they find it. One said: “I thought it was disgusting!”

Bending told the local paper: “In ten years we have never had such a strong reaction to anything we have done. Three or four older residents have been in to the shop to complain. They were really angry. I never imagined anyone would take offence.

“The story behind the card is that it was a note found in a house on the door of a ten-year-old girl’s bedroom. She put it up because her brother kept going into her room and farting. The owner, a friend of mine, sent in a photo.

“It was intended as a shared joke. The point is it fits in with our ethos – tell it how it is – and do things differently.”

Bending has been banned from Rightmove and other portals because of his advertising which is not exactly half-hearted (say it quickly) about certain aspects of his properties.