The Office of Fair Trading have issued court proceedings against Keith Fryer, who trades as Capital Funding, because they believe he has been misleading people about his ability to purchase their properties.
The High Court action seeks an injunction against Mr Fryer under the Enterprise Act 2002 and the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988.
Keith Fryer operates a property investment business which approaches estate agents for details of properties they are marketing. If he considers one suitable, he makes an offer via the agent which, if accepted, he follows up with a direct approach to the seller requesting a ‘processing fee’. He claims that the £392 ‘fee’ will be refunded on completion.
The OFT maintain that Mr Fryer fails to make it clear to either the agent or the seller that his offer is dependent on him finding a buyer at a higher price. They claim he has failed to provide evidence that sales proceed to completion, thereby triggering the refund. This leaves the property unsold and the seller £392 out of pocket.
Mr Fryer does not accept that he is misleading estate agents or consumers and has failed to give the OFT undertakings that he will not make offers for properties without making it clear that the sale is dependent on him finding another buyer at a higher price.
Notes to editors
No date has yet been fixed for the High Court hearing.
The Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations (CMARs) 1988 came into force on 20 June 1988 implementing an EC Directive on misleading advertising. The role of the OFT under the regulations is mainly to support and reinforce the controls exercised by other bodies where they have been unable to take effective action. The OFT will step in only when these bodies have been unable to deal adequately with a complaint and where it is in the public interest that an advertisement is stopped by means of a court injunction.
The OFT can only act when a complaint has been received. To come within its scope an advertisement must be misleading (ie it must deceive or be likely to deceive the recipient and affect their economic behaviour, or for those reasons harm the interests of a competitor), and be published, in connection with a trade, business, craft or profession, in order to promote the supply or transfer of goods or services, immovable property, rights or obligations. The OFT can take action against anyone appearing to be concerned or likely to be concerned with the publication of a misleading advertisement. 'Advertisement' means any form of representations that is made in connection with a trade, business, craft or profession in order to promote the supply or transfer of goods or services, immovable property, rights or obligations.
The Enterprise Act 2002 came into force on 20 June 2003 and gives enforcement bodies strengthened powers to obtain court orders against traders breaching a range of consumer legislation.
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