13 February 2007
ESTATE AGENT IN COURT FOR FALSE CLAIMS
Belfast estate agent, Gerard Francis O’Connor, trading as Gerry O’Connor Estate Agent, 147 Stranmillis Road, Belfast was given an absolute discharge for breaching consumer protection legislation.
At Belfast Magistrates’ Court, Mr O’Connor admitted four charges for falsely describing a block of apartments as having ‘covered and secure car parking’ in a brochure advertising new apartments then being built at the Lanyon Manor development, 2-4 Eglantine Place, Belfast. Trading Standards Service received complaints from purchasers of the apartments.
The development, comprising of 12 apartments, had only ten car parking spaces and only four were covered; none were secure and two apartments had no car parking at all.
When the complainants raised the issue of how the car park was to be secured they were told by staff at the estate agency, it was to be secured by gates. The investigation carried out by Trading Standards Service, established there had been no application for planning permission to erect gates or any other security measure. The statement on the brochure was false from its inception. Once the estate agent became aware that it was false he should have taken measures to ensure that perspective purchasers were not misled about the car parking facilities.
Any member of the public who thinks they have been misled about property descriptions should contact Consumerline, tel: 0845 600 6262 or log on to www.consumerline.org.
The prosecution was brought by Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment’s Trading Standards Service, under the property Misdescriptions Act 1991.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- The case was brought under section 1(1) of the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991. Section 1(1). States, “Where a false or misleading statement about a prescribed matter is made in the course of an estate agency business or a property development business, otherwise than in providing conveyancing services, the person by whom the business is carried on shall be guilty of an offence”
- In this case Gerard Francis O’ Connor, trading as Gerry O’ Connor Estate Agent, pleaded guilty of giving a false statement, “covered and secure car parking”, by means of an advertising brochure, when in fact there was no car parking at all for two apartments, only four were covered and none were secure.
- The maximum fine, which could be awarded in a magistrates’ court, is £5000 for each offence.
- For media enquiries please contact DETI Press Office, Tel: 028 9052 9297.
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