Landlords are likely to be obliged to supply agents with additional details in future, before their properties are listed to let on portals.
The National Trading Standards and Estate and Lettings Team, which presides over consumer-related activity by agents, has launched the first of a three phase project to upgrade the ‘material information’ on rental listings.
The first phase is relatively simple - a property's council tax band or rate (for lettings and sales) and the price and tenure information (for sales) must be included on all property listings by the end of May.
However, later phases will be backed by legislation will make it compulsory for listings to include details of utilities available within a property, non-standard features like restrictive covenants that could influence a transaction decision, plus flooding risk and other elements.
James Munro, senior manager at NTSELAT, says: “This represents an important milestone in the journey to improve material information on property listings. I’m delighted with the progress that has been made with the industry to help define and clarify what constitutes material information and I am grateful to the property portals and other industry leaders who have supported this work.
“I am aware that there are software companies who are already enabling this information to be included in property listings.
“These technical changes will prompt all players in the property market to do things a bit differently. Vendors and agents may find that bringing conveyancers on oard at the outset helps ensure all information is available for marketing, and issues with things like restrictive covenants or boundaries can be addressed earlier.
“For consumers, a better understanding of why certain information such as a property’s tenure is important will enable them to make informed decisions when they embark on a property search.
“This project will make it easier for estate and letting agents to meet their legal obligations and we look forward to supporting them as they get to grips with a new way of working. We also welcome the involvement of the conveyancers, lawyers and other organisations who are already on board with the process and are putting support in place for agents.”
A full list of the Part A material information is available on the National Trading Standards website here; this also gives an overview of the type of information that will be included in Parts B and C.
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Oh i am so glad i have decided to sell up in 2026 ! Its the drip drip effect which is just so tedious.
Same here Simon. I have tenants moving out this week at the end of their notice and that house will be going straight on the market, followed by the rest of the portfolio. I've had enough.
Hi Shane
Totally agree - we only have a couple of rentals but have been considering selling as the government squeeze is getting tighter and tighter and no profit in it! Especially when our last tenant left owing 3 months rent and recked the place. On another note however, I work with other investors who are still interested in buying more properties for their portfolios. If you want to have a chat about your properties that you want to sell, I will be able to save you estate agent fees, at least. Let me know by calling me on 07525589446. All the best to you Caroline
Thanks Caroline but in my experience, other investors tend to want to buy cheaply. That's fine if you're desperate to sell, and your property isn't moving but up here in the Highlands (Inverness) the market is currently quite buoyant and things tend to sell fairly quickly at the moment.
Tenants ignore the information we already have to give them, especially the EPC reports.
More information will be just an extra cost for landlords and therefore tenants who always pay in the end, either in money or homelessness after eviction.
More red tape , what fun !
Every day I hope to here something from the people we foolishly give power to that will actually help the sector for provider and user. Every day I’m disappointed. I too have sold one this year the first to go in over 20 years. I know this is the grand plan for the sector. It’s seems the establishment hates the fact ordinary people can make good .
Adrian - It's not that the establishment hates us making good (they can tax us more), but the general public hate us, governments of any colour ignore the publics perception at their peril, we are an easy target to hit and the majority of the public like to hear that LL's are being kept under control, which then gives them the (false) impression that their lives are about to get a lot better....... smoke and mirrors the lot of it, but the general public are simply not up to grasping this. I truly believe only the very hardy will survive in the PRS, I am on the path to retirement (like a lot of us), so for me it is not worth the struggle. I have 'choice' because i own outright properties, the poor tenants are being thrown to the wolves and they have no clue, all this LL bashing will bring upon them the exact thing they are saying they wish to stop.
AS with others commenting on yet another set of impositions that have been dreamed up by people who obviously are trying to justify their very existence - as has been to case in many public bodies for many years where empire building has been and still remains rife.
One has to ask - because there is always a sledge hammer involved in most modern legislation, how much will one be penalised - fined - if one or more restrictive covenants are missed on the information, additionally - as is the case with my main property - if one looks on the relative official sites for such information based on computer modelling, the details show that my property has the potential of flooding, but the realistic fact is that this will never, yes never happen (unless we have a tsunami of such proportions that much of the UK will be under water). So, would I be expected to state the totally farcical info based on the computer modelling or would I be permitted to state the actual factual situation.
Another farcical scenario relates to EPC’s. Landlords - and it has been muted that it may apply to all properties in the UK whether let or privately owned - will in the near future have the imposition of a minimum EPC rating of "C" for our properties before we can let them out. Given that many of the EPC's for my properties undertaken in recent times fail to take account of insulation that is within loft areas and roof voids associated with flat rooves ultimately resulting in a "D" rating for a number of them. When I questioned the "surveyor" about this, his input was that, in their "training course" they were informed that their surveys were to be non-invasive!, in short the "surveyors" do not do the job in its entirety, thereby resulting in an EPC rating that is totally incorrect and which could lead to myself – and many others like me - having to spend substantial sums of money on so called improvement works in order to raise the existing fictitious rating to a “C” rating which, if the “surveyors” were informed to so do and undertook a thorough survey in the first place, would not be necessary. This is without doubt another facet that needs to be corrected; if not then I would suggest that many property owners are being fleeced by Legislators, Government and their advisers.
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