A lettings sector supply company has had to amend an advertisment after a complaint about its “misleading” statement over smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
The Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint after a member of the public had received an email from the firm – Landlord Certificates – which stated: “IMPORTANT LANDLORD UPDATE/From the 1st October 2015 all landlords will need to install a working smoke alarm and CO alarm at their rental property. You can find out more on the GOV.UK website”.
The complainant believed this was misleading because the legislation only required a rental property to have a carbon monoxide alarm in a room with a solid fuel burning appliance.
The authority contacted the advertiser which explained it had kept the statement concise to give maximum impact, and intended recipients of the email to read more on the government website.
“However, in light of the complaint, they agreed with us to remove the statement about the CO alarm completely or add in extra script which explained it was only needed if using a solid fuel appliance. On their assurance to amend the ad, we considered no further action was required and closed the case on an informal basis” explains an ASA spokeswoman.
