- Association introduction
- List of Members
- Sole Agency Safe seal
- How to join us
- APA Member's Area
Association of Property Advertisers
What is the Association of Property Advertisers?
The Association of Property Advertisers is a voluntary non profit-making association of Internet Private Property Advertisers. The purpose of the Association of Property Advertisers is to promote the concept of Private Property Sales via Internet Property Advertisement, to advise members of current and predicted forthcoming legislation or regulations which might affect the activities of the members and to advise both the Association members and the public using their services of the steps they may need to take to comply with the legislation or regulations.
The Association of Property Advertisers seeks to foster consumer trust and confidence in Internet Private Property Sales through the accreditation of members complying with their Code of Practice.
What is the purpose of the Association of Property Advertisers?
The Internet itself and popular usage of Internet Advertising postdates many commercial regulations and attempts to retrospectively apply regulations are confusing and open to commercial manipulation by other interested bodies. Many of the phrases used by bodies such as the OFT and others (such as ‘Internet Property Retailer’) have no legal definition and no boundary has yet been tested in law.
The Association of Property Advertisers may on occasion make representations on behalf of its members regarding upcoming legislation, decisions by bodies such as the OFT or detrimental statements or actions by non-members or others acting against the common interest of the members.
One of the primary objectives of the association is to investigate the basis and potential impact of new regulations or requirements to determine the possible effects on Internet Property Advertisement Sites. In particular the association will advise members of how to avoid the potential commercial damage of new rulings by appropriate action or reconfiguration.
On behalf of the association’s members the Association will establish communications with regulatory bodies such as the OFT following new rulings to determine as far as is reasonable how to avoid re-classification or other inadvertent restrictions to trade. The association will then use best efforts to define and publish to members, the duties, actions or other activities required by the members to avoid the restriction of trade by means such as the provision of an accredited ‘Sole Agent-Safe’ seal signifying that all members have undertaken the steps considered necessary by the OFT to be considered an advertiser only and not performing ‘agent duties’. Authority to display the ‘Sole Agent-Safe’ seal will only be given following an undertaking by members that they abide by the required criteria. Because of the legally untested and sometimes legally undefined nature of new regulations, ‘rulings’ and ‘clarifications', all conformation criteria are given on a ‘best advice’ or ‘best understanding’ basis.
All members of the Association of Property Advertisers must prominently display the Association of Property Advertisers logo and ‘Sole Agent-Safe’ seal as appropriate on their website and agree to comply with the Association of Property Advertisers Code of Practice. This Code of Practice requires all members to include on their websites a click-through link to the the Association of Property Advertisers website where consumers can find details of the Code of Practice and the Association of Property Advertisers itself. This does not imply that the Association of Property Advertisers recommends the products offered by the particular members or the customer service provided outside the areas covered in the Code of practice.
Membership Accreditation Criteria
Websites applying for accreditation by the Association of Property Advertisers must comply with this Code of Practice, acceptance of which and compliance with which is a mandatory condition of membership of the Association of Property Advertisers.
The Code of Practice includes as a minimum, the compliance with regulations applying to Internet advertising, Distance Trading and the core principles listed below.
The Association of Property Advertisers reserves the right to amend or augment these Membership Accreditation Criteria in the light of technological developments or internet trading conditions. In such circumstances, it will issue a public notice, amending the website and notifying all accredited members direct. Accordingly, members must advise their advertisers/users of any changes which may affect them in a timely fashion, and ensure their compliance therewith.
The Association of Property Advertisers also reserves the right to withdraw membership from sites that do not abide by the rules of the association or cause any action that may bring the association into disrepute.
Basic membership requirements
The Association of Property Advertisers members must comply with all aspects of government and other regulatory body requirements as they apply to Internet commerce. Members must meet as a minimum, their obligations under consumer protection and other laws currently in force including (but not limited to) the following:
- Members must display physical name and address and phone number for customer redress.
- Members must heed their obligations under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Act and publish a statement that no random marketing emails will be sent to personal email addresses (‘spam’).
- The website’s ‘Cookies ‘policy should be accurately described and must include links to further information on the topic if it is not fully explained on the member’s website.
- Members should state conformity with the requirements of the Data Protection Act, 1998.
- Member’s online advertising must meet the standards of the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing.
- Members must comply with the rulings of the ASA.
- All advertising material, of whatever nature, including text or graphics used in conjunction with hyperlinks directing users to particular websites, must be clear and truthful and must comply with the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion (BCASP) and in particular must require that all on-line advertisements are legal, decent, honest and truthful.
- If payments are taken on-line, members should describe how online credit card payments are secured, e.g by a third party or encryption.
It is expected that these topics will be included in the ‘Terms and Conditions’ and ‘Privacy Policy’ of the member’s website.
Other membership requirements
Members must provide clear and adequate information about the website’s products and services to enable consumers to make informed decisions.
Members must have in place an effective enforcement/redress mechanism and a system of complaint monitoring.