The much-talked-about guidance for estate agents on meeting their material information obligations has been published.

Released by The National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) it is the first tranche of new rules for agents on improving material information in property listings.

The guidance has been developed in partnership with industry leaders and the UK’s major property portals, including Rightmove, Zoopla, OnTheMarket and PropertyPal and can be found on a new, dedicated webpage.

This Part A of the guidance, after which two more sets of guidance are expected, requires agents to ensure listings include sale or rental price, council tax band (or property rates in NI) and tenures information – such as leasehold, freehold or commonhold.

NTSELAT says the property portals have been working to include new data fields on their sites, many of which are now in place.

If these new fields are left empty by an agent, this is flagged on the listing so consumers can see what information is missing.

In many cases, the fields also include a link to advice for consumers as to why that information is important and how to find it.

James Munro (pictured), Senior Manager of the NTSELAT, says: “For years, agents have been calling for clarity around the disclosure of material information and it’s brilliant to see the property industry coming together to deliver a better service for consumers looking to buy or rent a home.

“I’m particularly grateful to the portals for their commitment and efforts to get Part A off the ground and I hope the new guidance will help them as they support agents to make the required information available.”

A Government spokesperson says: “The Government is committed to working with the property sector to improve the home buying and selling process; supporting our mission to level up the country and create a fair housing system that works for everyone.

“We intend to set out our plans for the future of home buying and selling in due course, including improving the quality of upfront information available to buyers, and driving digitalisation of the residential property sector. We see this work led by NTSELAT as key to helping us drive this agenda.”

More commentary

Richard Donnell, Executive Director at Zoopla

“We’re supportive of any proposals that will improve transparency for consumers when it comes to buying or renting a home.

“The Part A requirements for property listings are a very important step towards this. 

Lesley Horton, Deputy Ombudsman at The Property Ombudsman

“By providing more material information at the point a consumer first becomes aware of a property, the less likely transactions are to fail, leading to higher consumer trust and confidence in the sector.

Sean Hooker, Head of Redress at The Property Redress Scheme, said:

“This will help eliminate ambiguity on what should be disclosed upfront to consumers, increase trust and reduce complaints to the redress schemes.

“This demonstrates a responsible industry, supporting and protecting its customers and providers in a positive way.”

Nathan Emerson, Propertymark CEO

“There has been much debate around some elements of the updated rules, but now the first set has come into force and the guidance is clear in its expectation it’s important they are adhered to.

“Our advice to agents is to carry out a full review of all their existing listings to protect themselves from paying what could be a high and unnecessary price if they get a visit from Trading Standards.

“With every listing not complying liable for a £200 fine it is important that none slip through the net.

“Our compliance team will be supporting Propertymark member agents to ensure listings in their branch windows, online or elsewhere are meeting the current legal requirements.”

David Cox, Rightmove’s Legal and Compliance Director

“Where information is not provided by the agent, a message will display on the listing telling home-hunters to get in touch with the agent for the missing information.”