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Spicerhaart, which has been rapped over the knuckles by the Advertising Standards Authority in the past, has turned the tables by successfully complaining about an advert from a rival agency in Essex.

A regional press ad for Essex Countryside, stated: "£99 Introducing the cheapest way to sell your home. It sounds too good to be true, but it isn't! From 17th July 2014, we are introducing a brand new way to buy and sell property. It guarantees you will receive the highest offer possible and cost you no more than £99. This fixed price includes your EPC, property details and floor plan [] It is set to be the biggest innovation in buying and selling property in Essex in decades".

Spicerhaart complained to the ASA, challenging the assertion "Introducing the cheapest way to sell your home" and the statement "It guarantees you will receive the highest offer possible and cost you no more than £99".

Spicerhaart said the statements were misleading and could not be substantiated.

Essex Countryside told the ASA that it believed no other agent in the area was offering a cheaper way to sell a vendor's property than its own Sale By Tender system. It said that the SBT was a four-week tender process, whereby all bids were collected by a specific date. The highest bid therefore guaranteed the highest price possible for the vendor.

However, the ASA upheld Spicerhaart's complaint saying that while Essex Countryside may have believed it was the cheapest agent in the area but it did not provide any documentary evidence to substantiate the claim.

The ASA says: We noted that Essex Countryside offered consumers an SBT service when selling their properties and guaranteed that consumers would receive the highest offer made on their property. However, we considered that the claim It guarantees you will receive the highest offer possible' suggested that there was no way that vendors could obtain a higher offer than through the use of the advertiser's service.

Therefore, because we had not seen any documentary evidence illustrating that Essex Countryside were the cheapest agents in their area, and that they could guarantee the highest offer possible for a vendor's property, we concluded that the claims were misleading.

Essex Countryside has been told the ad must not appear again in its current form.

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