Developer Barratt London, which trades as BDW Trading Ltd, has been reported to the Advertising Standards Authority for an email it sent out to potential buyers.
One of the recipients complained to the watchdog about claims made within the email that buyers could “secure your Zone 1 apartment with Stamp Duty Paid”.
But the claim made appeared to be less generous than the email suggested and the member of the public challenged whether the claim was misleading.
This was because it implied that all the Stamp Duty due would be paid by Barratt when in fact only Stamp Duty up to 3% would be paid.
Therefore, because of the cost of the properties, this meant none of the apartments within the development would have all the stamp duty paid.
On the Barratt website it states that Barratt “may be able to pay the Stamp Duty for you up to a maximum of 4% of the purchase price of your new Barratt Home”.
But the duty is levied at 5% for properties between £250,000 and £925,000, and at 10% between £925,000 and £1.5 million.
So for example at Barratt London’s luxury Landmark Place overlooking Tower Bridge within Zone 1 of the London transport system where prices start at £862,500 and rise to £7.47 million, none of the properties would have all their Stamp Duty paid, as the email claims.
Barratt London
“We contacted the advertiser about the complaint and they provided their assurance that the claim was included by mistake and internal procedures were put in place to ensure it would not happen again,” an ASA spokesperson said.
“On this basis we closed the case informally.”
BDW Trading Ltd has had one previous piece of advertising complained about by members of the public. That was in 2013 when someone complained about a claim made by BDW Trading Ltd (trading as Wilson Homes) about a part-exchange deal and the definition of 100% market value. The complaint was upheld.
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