Thailand Real Estate & Property News - Updated from sources around the net

Regulators crack down on property ads

Bangkok Post: 23 May 2008

By: Kanana Katharangsiporn

The Consumer Protection Board (CPB) will start cracking down on misleading property advertisements on July 1. Developers and billboard operators found in violation would be fined and could face civil lawsuits, said Rasamee Vistaveth, the CPB secretary-general. ”From July 1, if we find any billboard misleads consumers, the billboard operator and developer will be fined immediately. After that, they will have to take the billboard down and correct it,” she said. Billboard operators and developers would no longer be able to simply cover up the misleading material with paper and leave the advertisement in tact. The maximum first-time fine would be 30,000 baht for developers and 15,000 baht for billboard operators. After a first-time offence, both developers and billboard operators could be fined 10,000 baht per day until they correct the contents. The CPB would consider civil suits against companies if their misleading billboard ads are still not removed. Mrs Rasamee said CPB found that many billboards were still breaking the rules that had been in effect for years. ”We have warned and notified them to change but they have still been violating the regulations. We need to enforce this seriously. They [advertisements] had false messages. Some projects used [their developments' proximity to] the Purple Line mass transit to advertise,” she said. According to a CPB inspection, half of all billboards related to property advertisements have incomplete or insufficient information. Mrs Rasamee said advertisements that used mass transit or extension lines to promote their properties had to notify consumers of the distance between the projects and the stations. Many developers only state the time required to reach a project, which can be misleading. ”The advertisements must also notify when the project starts and completes construction,” she said. Billboards must also include details of the land location, the number of title deeds, the plot size and planning to show the location of the project. The message must be visible and the smallest message must not be less than one-third the size of the largest one.