Does any state organisation regulate Myhome.ie, Daft.ie and the other property sites?

As far as I know, these are private companies and pay their E30 to advertise. I doubt these ads are monitored. Perhaps a call to the Property Registration Authority might clarify?

The rules which apply to advertising property apply equally to website, press advertisements, flyers handed out by agents etc.

For example, there are a range of things which Daft will not show on rental advertising, because it is not legal, eg HAP not accepted.

The same regulatory authorities which apply law on other platforms apply the law on websites. I'm thinking that there is likely no law against using imperial measurements (miles etc) or that it is not enforced: if there was, Daft at least would likely comply.

There certainly are requirements about disclosing information about properties, either up-front or not request. These requirements apply to real estate agents though, not to the media - and I'm not sure that there's a requirement to put everything in the advertising, though.

While I have no great sympathy for estate agents (one step down from used car dealers mostly) I don't feel the owners of those websites should be policing estate agents beyond what is required by law. It's ridiculous to suggest the entire problem lies with them.

If it is required by law then contact those websites. You might even get some rent money for the space they're taking up in your head.

Are you serious?

If someone is soo stupid that they cannot use Google to convert miles to km etc, then they have no business buying property.

I'm inclined to agree with the OP that EAs will use every ruse and trick in the book in their trade. But it's not the problem of the web portals mentioned above. Long past time for government legislation requiring metric measurements in metres, square metres and kilometres for such property advertising.

If people want to use feet, inches and miles in their everyday lives then well & good and let them at it. Purchasing property is not an everyday activity for most people and this advertising should be standardised for clarity and comparative purposes.

I'm missing the big deal here. No matter what the dimensions are, a house/apartment can feel small.

No matter what a website says, I'm going to want to see it in person. I don't need a regulator to help.

I looked into this in relation to flooring materials some time ago and I could not find any legal requirement to use square meters as the primary measurement for area. That does not mean it doesn’t exist but I couldn’t find it. (There are corresponding requirements in relation to weight and volume.)

Using the Islamic calendar perhaps? Shouldn't be an issue. It's easy to convert.

Aside from whether or not these property websites are or should be regulated, it always intrigued me how their regular property analysis reports are taken seriously. As private companies, with two obvious goals, sell or let property, how is it their reports can be looked at objectively. Always struck me as odd, a bit like taking RTE viewership figures seriously. IMO Of course.

They don't sell or let property. They host advertisements.

And that gives them unique insights into the markets they support.

Correct re actually selling properties but they facilitate the sale of same and therefore have vested interested and less than objective reports often gleefully referred to by various media outlets. Fair enough if these reports were for internal research etc but when Media and indeed government sources refer to them as almost Gospel, that's were my concerns would lie.

A bit like a Brand financing a report or study on how wonderful their products are.

I don't think it's really comparable to a brand reporting on it's own products. More so if a brand reported on the state of the industry they operated in.

But I do get the spirit of your point. It's definitely not in those websites interested to piss off their customers, estate agents in this case.

I wouldn't hold your breath on enforcing the metric system. Our own government is still fond of putting their square feet in it

I think most reasonable people take everything an estate agent says with a pinch of salt. It's not for daft to regulate estate agents. Nore should daft be regulated in that manner.

If you want to get a second opinion on a property size, without leaving the couch, there is always the BER summary that can be accessed online. Of course it might not be there but that perhaps tells it's own story.