Broadband speed in property details is 'broadly misleading'

Slow broadband speed at peak-times has been cited as the number one unexpected home-mover bugbear according to a survey of 3,000 people. 

Respondents were asked what information they would most like to know about a property, which isn’t readily available from an agent or included on property details. 

Some 34 per cent said they wanted to know what broadband speeds they would receive at peak times - almost double the 18 per cent who would have liked to have known the likely reliability of the mobile telephone signal. 

The survey, by telecoms company Hyperoptic, says the broadband complaint it the single biggest bugbear for both buyers and renters.

Nearly half of renters, 48 per cent, would have avoided a property entirely if they had known that it had poor broadband speeds at peak-time. For 36 per cent a flaky mobile signal would have also been a deal breaker. 

For buyers the figures were 39 per cent and 22 per cent. 

“The average broadband speed given from a property website is basically misleading since it does not factor in how much a ‘Fibre-to-the-Cabinet’ broadband service can reduce at peak times. It is time that the property sector woke up to the fact that broadband is not just a standard property amenity – it has the power to turn off a prospective renter and buyer altogether” says Steve Holford, chief customer officer at the telecoms company.