BRIEF THE BOUCHAT V. RAVENS CASE

Brief the Bouchat v. Ravens case

Property Misrepresentations Act 1991 (2)

Advertisements are the preliminary negotiations, rather than offers to sell. Descriptions of goods in mail-order catalogues or on the Internet are called preliminary negotiations rather than offers, even though the goods are described in detail and a specific price is set for each article.

In the effort to limit abuses of the common-law rule by unscrupulous advertisers, practically all states have passed the description of the property law. It provides civil or criminal liability for businesses that refuse to sell goods or services as it was advertised. In other words, if the company refuses to sell products or services as they were advertised, they are at risk of having a law suit (Barter, 2008, 65).

One of the major dilemmas facing the customers of real estate industry is the misleading information or fake printing on the brochures related to a particular property or a land. This practice has continued for a long time and has brought a bad name to the real estate industry as a whole (Bagby, 2007, 14). Most of the European countries, including the United Kingdom have come up with regulations to address the issue of misleading consumers with fake information, but there is still a long way to go when these regulations are implemented in their true spirits.

It is not only the case with real estate tycoons, but other firms are found to have been involved in misleading their customers with false information about their property. It is the legal duty of the owner and the surveyor to check everything and ensure that the information provided about the property is deemed to be said. Therefore, the surveyor must provide a realistic picture of the land or property.

According to the Property Misrepresentations Act 1991 § 1(2)), the British law prohibits certain forms of misleading information about the land, property, housing and other related facilities.

Article 5 of the Public Information Act deals with misleading property description in England, this article provides that where an advertisement refers to a trade name associated with a property class, the name should be considered as referring all products in this category, even if not in effect at the time of the announcement (Alvis, 2007, 74). In addition, Article 6 states that it is an offense if a person, as part of a business or professional made a false statement knowing it to be false or recklessly makes a false statement regarding the disposition of the business or professional nature, purpose or fitness for purpose of service, accommodations or facility provided as part of the business or professional activity. For the purposes of Article 6, any person who makes false statements is to make them unduly, unless that person has sufficient reason to believe that his statement was true.

In Britain, all real estate firms are responsible to update their records if they are not consistent with reality advertised, this to avoid incurring a charge of publicity ...