An online letting agent which also runs a comparison website on which it had a five-star rating and often came out top, has found itself in hot water with the advertising watchdog.

The company said on its homepage that the CompareLettingAgents site was “fair and impartial”.

But this claim was challenged by another letting agent, Lets-Rent.co.uk, which also appeared on the website.

Lets-Rent said it was misleading, because the website was operated by a letting agent whose details appeared in the search results returned through use of the site.

The website said: “Find the best letting agents in your area!”

Smaller text stated: “Enter your postcode to find the top agents and save over £500 in agent fees!” and “How it works: 1. Enter your postcode and email – 2. We compare the entire market to find you the best deals – 3. We shortlist the best agents in your area along with their fees and contact details”.

Text under the heading, “Why use Compare Letting Agents?” included “Free, fair and impartial”, and “Data from over 10,000 letting agents in England, Scotland and Wales”.

Small print at the bottom of the page stated: “Brought to you by Rentify.”

Rentify told the Advertising Standards Authority that ratings of the agents on the website were entirely user-sourced. They explained that the user reviews were not vetted or approved, but represented reviews left by consumers and, therefore, the fact they hosted the website had no impact on the partiality of the process.

They said that the reviews of agents were intentionally anonymous and that there were 4,686 star ratings on the website for 16,620 branches. Rentify also said their own five-star rating was based on user reviews.

Rentify explained that they appeared in searches for postcodes outside of London because they operated nationwide and provided evidence to demonstrate that.

They pointed out that the listings were also ordered from lowest to highest price and, therefore, because their service was free, they often appeared at the top of the listings.

However, the ASA upheld the complaint.

It said consumers would interpret the claim “fair and impartial” to mean that the organisation that ran the website was entirely independent from the lettings industry and had no commercial interest in the ratings of the agents.

The ASA also said, that by choosing how the agents were ordered in the search listings, Rentify were benefiting by appearing at the top.

The ASA had not seen sufficient evidence to demonstrate that Rentify’s five-star rating was based on user reviews.

Rentify has been told to ensure that marketing communications made their commercial intent sufficiently clear and did not misleadingly imply they were independent from the letting agent industry.