Flats at a collapsed development scheme in Liverpool have appeared on property website Rightmove, causing the council to raise concerns as students move to the city for the start of the academic year.
Fox Street Village is subject to a prohibition order and enforcement notices from the council, but Liverpool Student Lettings, which posted the listing, said it was acting "on behalf of investors" who have been carrying out "remedial work" in order to comply with the notices.
Earlier this year, Fox Street Village Ltd and .
The has a on three of four accommodation blocks of the part-finished development due to fire safety fears, with hundreds of residents, including students, earlier this year.
Council planning inspectors sent out enforcement notices over the whole 400-apartment scheme facing out onto Fox Street at its junction with Great Homer Street and St Anne Street, saying they were concerned the whole development was “poorly finished” and failed to meet standards.
Since then, Fox Street Village Investors Association has been set up to represent the interests of the investors, who are based all around the world.
It was set up to intervene to "protect their interests", carrying out "remedial work" to comply with the notices, and this week, Liverpool Student Lettings, who listed the property on Rightmove, said it is acting on behalf of the association.
A spokesman for Liverpool Student Lettings told investors had "funded safety works following service of the prohibition order".
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He added: "We are here to help the process run smoothly as many of the investors are from overseas and not local and have been in constant communication with the relevant parties.
"We have been instructed by them to be proactive in ensuring the remedial work complies with the terms of the Order as safety is paramount. The extensive and expensive remedial works have been carried out and overseen by an independent Fire Engineer and an independent Fire Risk Assessment Surveyor."
He emphasised that the advert did not say the flats are available, but said it was a "commercial venture that needs a return on the investment when the property is made safe".
He added that the reports are set to be submitted to the council and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.
A Liverpool Council spokesman said the authority welcomed the news that works had been undertaken to comply with the relevant notices, but that Trading Standards are now investigating the listings.
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The authority is concerned students may attempt to sign up to move into one of the properties, despite Liverpool Student Lettings emphasising the listing does not say flats are available.
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The spokesman added: "We will need to see full details of these works to ensure they are of an appropriate standard and meet all the requirements.
"It is vitally important that no person should enter these buildings until they have been declared safe to live in. The fact that letting companies are seemingly marketing rooms whilst a Prohibition Order is in place is concerning and Trading Standards are now investigating to establish if any fraud or other offences have taken place."
Earlier this month, it was revealed Fox Street Village Ltd had been for breaching planning conditions in a situation described by the judge as "disgraceful".
Fox Street Village Ltd was contacted for a comment.