Survey unearths home-selling scams

Beware the hard sell when buying a house

Painting the lawn green and using music to drown out noisy neighbours are just two of tactics home owners have employed to sell their houses.

More and more sellers and estate agents are using those sorts of crafty measures, according to a survey for Direct Line.

A home in land-locked Bedford was advertised as having sea views

Direct Line survey

It found that four out of five homebuyers felt they had been misled when they were house hunting.

One buyer went to look at a house advertised as having "lush lawns" only to find the parched brown grass had been hand-painted a bright green.

Prison setting

An old cottage described as having "added charm" turned out to have subsidence.

It was that movement which had given an outside wall what the estate agents called "a unique period feel".

One buyer went to view a terraced house "in a desirable location".

It was directly opposite a high security prison.

And a modern house described as having easy access to local roads turned out to be next to a motorway junction.

Impossible views

One estate agent offered a family home "situated in a quiet, tranquil location".

The blurb failed to point out that it became a busy, noisy location on race days at the nearby Donnington race track.

Another home in land-locked Bedford was advertised as having sea views.

One in five home buyers said they had detected excessive use of air fresheners to try to mask bad odours.

Other tricks included playing loud music to drown out other noise and hanging new wallpaper to disguise damp.

The research was carried out by 72 Point, which questioned 500 people.