New regulations to protect home buyers from being misled have been welcomed by Liverpool agents.

Revised codes of practice by The Property Ombudsman (TPO) will take effect from tomorrow (1 October), preventing agents from hiding price cuts online and giving the impression a property is new to the market when it is not.

The issue, known as ‘portal juggling’, stems from some agents removing and re-listing homes on internet property portals – an act which has been deemed misleading for consumers who are searching for a new place to live.

Introducing the changes, TPO Board chairman Gerry Fitzjohn says: “Our codes already state that all advertisements must be legal, decent, honest and truthful, but now go one step further to clarify that ‘portal juggling’, in its various forms, is misleading to consumers.

“Evidence of member agents found to be carrying out such poor practice could be reported to the Disciplinary and Standards Committee (DSC), NTSEAT and/or local Trading Standards.”

On the eve of the codes changing, Katie Myers, sales associate at Century 21 Liverpool South, says: “Re-listing properties puts them to the top of the list – therefore generating fresh interest, viewings and then potentially leading to offers – it can also trick the buyer into thinking it is new stock and is not ethical. Agents will have to work harder on the aged stock to get them sold so it’s back to basic good customer service.”

Louis Anastasiou, CEO of Andrew Louis, has also hailed TPO’s move “long overdue”, suggesting it will “now help protect prospective buyers against misleading online property information which can distort prices by giving a false sense of urgency”.

Helen Griffin-Booth, director of Bluerow Homes, adds: “What I am interested to see now is how the TPO intends to police these revisions. For example, what would happen if a property was sold or let on the grounds that it should be taken off the market, only for the sale to fall through and the property have to be re-listed. This would show as a new instruction which could cause confusion under the new guidelines.

“TPO’s revised codes of practice will help to foster trust in the property market, for buyers and tenants alike. This is an important step which I hope will help renew confidence in sales and letting agents and the online tools available to them.”

Other TPO Codes of Practice revisions include ensuring all fees and charges are quoted inclusive of VAT, disclosure on pre-contract deposits and disclosing all relevant facts to landlords from referencing, regardless of whether the tenant has met or failed to meet the criteria.

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