Real estate advertisements are most exploitative, says ASCI. In its “Half-Yearly Complaints Report 2024-25”, the self-regulatory body ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) said that of all the 3031 ads investigated, around 34% were from the real estate sector alone. It was followed by 29% ads from illegal betting and 8% from the healthcare sector. Track2Realty is conscious of the fact that the builders would challenge this allegation tooth & nail. The developers that we have spoken to have either denied existence of such practices or have even questioned the legitimacy of ASCI.
It is true that the Advertising Standards Council of India is a voluntary, independent organization. Its aim is to ensure advertisements in India are fair, honest, and comply with the ASCI Code. ASCI’s decisions are non-binding on non-members unless they willingly accept its jurisdiction. As a private entity, ASCI cannot infringe on the legal business rights of non-members, which limits its regulatory reach.
The Bombay High Court in a judgment had observed that ASCI, being a private entity, lacks statutory authority as per Article 12 of the Indian Constitution. Therefore, it cannot impose restrictions on the non-member plaintiff’s commercial advertisements under the guise of voluntary self-regulation.
But the fact remains that misleading advertisers have not been able to challenge ASCI for its objectivity. It is by and large accepted as a self regulatory body because its findings are evidence based. As per its latest findings, real estate emerged as the sector with the highest exploitations of advertising norms between April and September this year. The self-regulatory body said that of all the 3031 ads investigated, around 34% were from the real estate sector alone. It was followed by 29% ads from illegal betting and 8% from the healthcare sector.
ASCI said that for the real estate sector, 1,027 ads were shortlisted and sent to the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) for review. “99% of the ads shortlisted were found to be in violation of the MahaRERA Act,” it said. For violations, MahaRERA penalised 628 real estate developers, imposing a total penalty of INR 88.90 lakh.
What is all the more important is the fact that the ASCI also said that in 53% of such cases, ASCI’s findings wewre not challenged. There was prompt compliance with advertisers either modifying their ads to include the missing information or withdrawing them entirely. Hence, the MahaRERA penalizing the defaulters and more than half of them either modifiyng or withdrawing ads is a clear case of “admission of crime”.
This is not the first time that real estate advertisements have been called out to be misleading. Even real estate regulator RERA has raised objections on such misleading ads by the real estate developers. For example, RERA Haryana RERA (HRERA) had earlier imposed penalty on a real estate promoter for misleading ad in April this year. HRERA Gurugram, has imposed a penalty of INR 50 lakh on a real estate promoter for publishing a misleading advertisement in an English daily about its real estate project Green Oaks.
It is pertinent to note here that there are mandatory provisions under Sections 11(2) and 13(1) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016 that the developer has to properly describe the details in the advertisement, and flouting these norms are punishable offence under the Section 61 of the RERA Act.
But any home buyer with absolutely no background or legal understanding can apply some common sense to find that the real estate advertisements in this country are misleading.
It starts much before the launch of the project and without regulatory approvals through proxy websites for lead generation. Add to it, the social media ads and fan pages and a sizeable set of gullible buyers get trapped into misleading ads.
For example, the ad would claim that the distance from the project site to major landmarks of the city is just 15 minutes. Now, that is more often than not an aerial distance and not every home buyer has the luxury of a private jet for day-to-day travelling. Advertisements are full of glossy rendered images as if it is some project in some developed part of the world. It is also supplemented with flowery language, that suggest a once in a lifetime kind of project.
Claims like ‘Green Living concept’, ‘Ultra-Luxury’, ‘Super-Luxury’, ‘Smart Homes’, ‘Lifestyle Homes’ etc are equally misleading. The definition of these terms can vary a lot as they are not defined anywhere, but it seems to be attractive for the gullible home buyers with no understanding of marketing tactics. State-of-the-art amenities are probably the most over-used and abused claim in the marketing brochure of respective developers. Yes, there would be a gym, a swimming pool and a tennis court etc. But the question that is not answered is whether that will be sufficient to serve the entire housing project. In most cases it is not.
Jargons like 80% open & green space doesn’t define exact green area; nor does it define that the definition of open spaces includes even the balconies & staircases. The green zone around the project, that looks so very beautiful in the brochure, can also be drainage area with green bushes around. The artistically create project elevation or the sample flat pictures on the brochure are more often than not misleading to the homebuyers.
And of course, now with the social media developers don’t even mind advertising with their own employees and brokers as happy home buyers. Who is going to check that out?
Track2Realty View
The misleading real estate advertisements are as much a crime as unfair contract in the business of real estate. This is because it is a business which collects public deposit first and then makes the product. Unless the law strictly defines and, more importantly, acts against such misleading advertisements, noting is going to change on the ground. A small fine here and there is not a deterrence in a high value & high profit business of real estate.
Ravi Sinha
ravisinha@track2media
#RaviTrack2Media
Ravi Sinha is a journalist with over two decades of cross-discipline media exposure. He is the CEO of real estate thinktank group Track2Realty. He has been writing extensively on the real estate sector for more than a decade now. Evaluation of real estate brand performance is his core domain expertise and he has immense insight into consumers’ psychograph. He has conceptualised Track2Realty BrandXReport as India’s 1st & only objective & non-paid brand rating journal that is industry-accepted benchmark of brand equity & ranking of the Indian real estate companies.
Track2Realty is an independent media group managed by a consortium of journalists. Starting as the first e-newspaper in the Indian real estate sector in 2011, the group has today evolved as a think-tank on the sector with specialized research reports and rating & ranking. We are editorially independent and free from commercial bias and/or influenced by investors or shareholders. Our editorial team has no clash of interest in practicing high quality journalism that is free, frank & fearless.
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