The advertising watchdog has ruled that campaigners cannot claim house prices will fall if a wind farm is built nearby.
The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that the claim – which the protesters said was based on the views of local estate agents who said house prices could fall by up to 40% – must not be repeated.
However, the views of the agents were only oral. None of the agents wanted to put anything in writing, apparently for fear of talking the market down.
The Stop Grange Wind Farm in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, put out a leaflet, making various claims including one that “home values will fall”.
The owner of the wind farm site complained that this was misleading and could not be substantiated.
The Stop Grange Wind Farm group argued hard for their claim.
They said that in preparing the leaflet, they had canvassed opinions from a number of local agents: all thought the proposed wind farm would have a negative effect and send local property prices down by between 10% and 40%.
However, while the agents were willing to give their views orally, they were unwilling to do so in writing.
The campaigners said the agents did not want to be seen to be talking the market down. Nor did they want to endanger any possible relationship with wind developers and other corporate entities who were potential clients.
However, the group did provide a copy of a letter from a local estate agent to the seller of a property which stated that a potential buyer had pulled out due to the proposed wind farm development.
They also provided copies of written comments from a partner of a local estate agent and a partner of a local chartered surveyor in response to a Wiltshire County Council consultation on wind farms. Both said property values would suffer.
They also provided a copy of a local newspaper article which quoted an estate agent in Devon regarding a local proposal for a wind development.
The protesters said it was self-evident that house prices were affected by proximity to large industrial-scale wind turbines. They said that at the very least it was likely to be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations on a property. They felt it was obvious that people would not choose to purchase a property near to a wind farm development because of issues with flickering, background noise and aesthetics.
They also provided copies of various press articles which referred to a ruling by the Valuation Office Agency which accepted that, for council tax purposes, wind turbines built near homes could decrease their value and that the VOA had moved such properties into a lower council tax band.
However, the ASA said that the claim “house prices will fall” needed robust documentary evidence in support. It did not consider it self-evident that property prices would be affected.
In relation to the letter from the local estate agent to the seller, the ASA said the letter did not state that the property had reduced in value. It stated that the potential buyer had withdrawn due to the wind farm proposal. The ASA said this was not sufficient substantiation for claims about house prices in the local area being reduced due to the proposed development.
The ASA also considered that the comments from the local estate agent and chartered surveyor were the subjective opinions of two individuals.
The ASA ruled that the claim breached advertising rules and has banned the leaflet.
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Comments
"When large scale surveys have been carried out, the trend has shown that property prices tend, if anything, to increase in proximity to wind farms..."
Then perhaps you can point us all in the direction of these surveys, Ms Davies?
Maybe... just maybe... the 'trend' you refer to was last noted in the mid-noughties!
@Lynn Davies on 2013-07-29 14:53:28
I wonder, respectfully, if you have a vested interest.
It seems self-evident to me that if there is a wind turbine in close proximity to a property it would adversely affect the property value?
With the hundreds of wind turbines now operational in the UK it would be apparent whether or not proximity to a wind farm really does decrease house values. And yet the protesters in this instance could only quote people who don't seem to have checked elsewhere to see if this does in fact happen.
When large scale surveys have been carried out, the trend has shown that property prices tend, if anything, to increase in proximity to wind farms (but only when those wind farms are operational - beforehand, there is the inevitable outbreak of "speculation" mingled with misguided "common sense").
The ASA, as usual, were correct in demanding hard evidence. Which, even after 20 years of wind turbine deployment on the UK mainland, nobody could provide.
So much for "common sense" claims!
Ridiculous - a forest of 200ft high windmills affecting prices???
Pure speculation
Our local planning office turned down a scheme last month - one issue recorded was "A negative affect on values of neighbouring properties"
I will report this unsubstantiated assertion to the ASA.... :)
You can't sustantiate anything until it happens - but the press is full of speculation over house prices generally. These are the result of various factors.
What about people campainging about the blight of High Speed Rail, thrid runways etc.
OK, so the 40% claim is perhaps a guess, but one thing is for sure, relative to the rest of the area, prices wont stay the same, prices wont go up - option three isn't speculation.
"when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"
"It did not consider it self-evident that property prices would be affected."
Not self evident with regards to robust documentary proof, but common sense dictates prices will fall.
Of course this means, the quarry that is planned next door, the proposed travellers camp behind your house, the planned landfill at the end of the street, the deep mining operation, that will extend under your foundations and the slaughter house across the road, will have no impact on the value of your home.
I think @concerned has come up with the only answer to this sort of issue.
Now if they said everybody who is affected will receive free electricity, there would have been much less objection.
I'd say that's a WIN for Stop Grange Wind Farm group. All that publicity because the "developers" didn't like the leaflet!
Sadly I think the only way this is going to be sorted is to make the ASA legally accountable for the inevitable consequences of this decision. Have houses valued. Let the wind farm go ahead. Value the houses after the wind farm is built. Then sue the ASA and the wind farm developers, jointly, for the reduction in value.
Unfortunately it will never happen because none of the victims of this little scheme will have enough dosh to employ the high priced corporate lawyers needed to win the case.
"The owner of the wind farm site complained that this was misleading and could not be substantiated"
Substantiated? Probable not fully until it happens.
Then oooooops! sorry I was wrong. By then it's too late.
Self-evident? Yes.
The ASA being either very corrupt or very incompetent.