Purplebricks insists it's committed to transparency as ASA slams misleading adverts

Estate agency Purplebricks has received a slap on the wrist from the Advertising Standards Authority for potentially misleading customers over its fees.

The ASA investigated two issues relating to Purplebricks TV adverts in the UK. The first issue, whether the adverts implied that Purplebricks did not charge a fee for its service, was dismissed. However, on the second issue, the ASA agreed that it was not clear in the TV adverts for the average consumer, that the flat fee was payable to Purplebricks in all instances.

Purplebricks said on Wednesday that it has already updated its UK TV adverts to make this even clearer, adding that the new wording has been approved by Clearcast.

Chief executive officer Michael Bruce said: "We are surprised by the ASA judgement on the flat fee wording because prior to air our adverts went through the proper approvals process, including the official clearance body Clearcast who have continued to support their original judgement with the ASA.

“Purplebricks is firmly on the side of the consumer, offering an alternative to the commission based model. As a leader of industry change some noise is inevitable.”

Bruce insisted that the company is committed to increasing levels of transparency within the industry, publishing its fixed fee rates on the home page of its website so consumers are certain about the cost of selling right from the outset.

“Purplebricks is far more transparent than traditional estate agents who do not typically publish their rates, allowing them to charge much greater and varying fees dependent upon a customer's ability or capacity to negotiate," Bruce said.

At 1400 BST, the shares were up 1.5% to 357.00p.