Ballyclare estate agent fined for misdescribing property

A Ballyclare Estate Agent was fined £100 at Belfast and Newtownabbey Magistrates’ Court for an offence under the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991.

In a case brought by the Trading Standards Service of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Country Estates (NI) Ltd, with its registered office at 184 Rashee Road, Ballyclare, pleaded guilty to describing a house as having ‘double glazed windows’ when the house had in fact only single glazed windows.

On 21 September 2006, the Department received a complaint from the purchaser of the property, a first time buyer, who only discovered the error in the brochure, produced by the company’s Glengormley branch, after they had moved into the property.

Trading Standards Inspector, Philip McClenaghan said, “Estate agents must make sure that properties they advertise must be accurately described in brochures, or in any other information they give to prospective purchasers”

Any member of the public who thinks they have been mislead about a property should contact Consumerline on 0845 600 6262 or log on to www.consumerline.org.

Notes to Editors:

1. The charge was brought under section 1 of the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991
2. For media enquiries please contact Margaret Mathieson in the DETI Press Office on 028 9052 9611.