Material information
From 31 May 2022, National Trading Standards requires agent websites and property portals to show what they have termed Material information on UK residential property listings.
We have updated our realtime data feed (RTDF) spec and processing system to accept this data and have updated OnTheMarket Expert for direct uploaders.
Three stages of material information disclosure
Part A
Information that, regardless of outcome, is always considered material for all properties regardless of location. This information generally involves unavoidable costs that will be incurred by the occupier regardless of the use of the property.
Part B
Information that must be established for all properties. It applies mainly to utilities (and similar), where non-standard features would affect someone’s decision to look any further at that property.
Part C
Additional material information that may or may not need to be established, depending on whether the property is affected or impacted by the information. Applies to properties affected by the issue itself because of, for example, the location of the property.
Part A
1. Tenure (applicable to sales listings only)
If Freehold,
- disclose as ‘freehold’
If Leasehold,
- disclose as ‘leasehold’, and
- Current ground rent and any review period
- Current service charge information and any review period
- Length of lease
- If Shared ownership, disclose
- details of share being sold, and any additional liabilities or obligations
- If Commonhold, disclose
- details of rights and obligations that apply between the unit holders, and between the unit holders and the commonhold association
2. Council Tax (England, Wales & Scotland), or Rates (Northern Ireland) – disclose
- council tax band (E, W & S)
- rates payable (NI)
3. Price or Rent
For lettings, disclose
- the monthly rent, and
- any deposit payable
For sales, disclose
- the price expressed as a single amount
(Note: Displaying the selling price, although not prescribed by law, is considered to be material information – its omission would be a breach of the CPRs if it affected the transactional decision of the average consumer 4.)
4 Initial advice – subject to further legal opinion and clarification
Part B
1. Physical characteristics of the property
- Property type: house, semi-detached, terraced, bungalow, studio, flat/apartment, room to let, park home, etc.
- Property construction: key materials used in the main structure and other areas
2. Number and types of rooms
- Include measurements, either in the description of detailed on a floor plan, and
- If rooms are affected by sloping ceilings/roofs
- Rooms cannot be listed as bedrooms if they don’t meet building regulations to be considered as such.
3. Utilities and how they’re supplied
- Electricity supply
- Water supply
- Sewerage
- Heating
- Broadband – including type and an indication of speed
- Mobile signal / coverage – including any known issues or restrictions
4. Parking
Part C
Information that may or may not need to be established, depending on whether the property is affected or impacted by the issues in question.
- Building safety – unsafe cladding, asbestos, risk of collapse, insufficient fire/smoke alarm systems
- Restrictions – conservation area, listed building status, tree preservation order
- Rights and easements – public rights of way, shared drives
- Flood risk
- Coastal erosion risk
- Planning permission – for the property and its immediate locality
- Accessibility and adaptations – step-free access, wet room, essential living accommodation on entrance level
- Coalfield or mining area
-
The above lists are not exhaustive, for further information please refer to the guidance here for sales and here for lettings.
Frequently asked questions
What if there’s a delay in obtaining information that would be considered material?
Where this information is missing it should be noted in the description (along with a reason for the delay where relevant) and the listing and interested parties should be updated once the information has been procured.
Which properties are covered by this?
All UK residential sales and lettings are covered by the new National Trading Standards guidance. There are some extra accommodations for new homes builders in recognition of the fact that some of this data might not be available to them. For instance, “Awaiting assessment” is an acceptable value for Council Tax within this context.
What will happen to businesses and agents that fail to meet their legal obligations?
A breach of the CPRs is a criminal offence and a “trigger” offence for the purposes of a warning or prohibition order under the Estate Agents Act 1979. Agents may also be subject to a complaint made by consumers to their redress scheme.
Does the guidance apply to auctions and auctioneers?
Yes. The guidance is an interpretation of the CPRs and covers any business-to consumer transaction, in this instance for residential sales via auction. Property listings for auctions should display the same information as any other listing.
Can I list a property as POA?
The National Trading Standards have supplied the following opinion on this. Further information can be found here.
Our view is that ‘POA’ or ‘price on application’ in relation to a property listing, whether on a property portal or an agent website (or similar) is likely to be misleading as it is withholding (or in some cases masking) the asking price from consumers. Not displaying the asking price is likely to be a misleading omission in that the price is information which the average consumer needs in order to take an informed transactional decision – i.e. to make enquiries about the property, conduct further research, arrange a viewing, etc. The Competition and Markets Authority has also confirmed that it considers that the absence of pricing information (i.e. the POA approach) is likely to mislead by omission.
All sales and lettings residential listings must display a price. The POA price qualifier can no longer be used on UK residential properties.
How does this affect the practice of offering consumers ‘sneak previews’ of properties before they ‘go live’ online?
Any property details shared in this way should include all the material information in order to comply with the CPRs.
What does it mean if a property listing states “Ask agent”?
This means we don’t yet have the information (in the correct, dedicated field/s) on the listing. This data should start reaching us as you see your property software update with the new fields and as and when Trading Standards start to remind the industry that this info should be provided.
Why do you say “Tenure: Ask agent” (for example), even though tenure is stated in the main description?
National Trading Standards want the material information to always be easily identifiable and to be in a standardised format and location. To meet this requirement we added dedicated fields to our RTDF spec and to OnTheMarket Expert, as well as the new Key information section to OnTheMarket.com.
This also means that when the data isn’t within these dedicated fields we can identify this and instead apply Ask agent and the additional text that National Trading Standards want displayed (seen if you click into the item). This will be the case if you are on a BLM data feed (i.e. you’ll need to add the information to the listing description).
Please email us at support@onthemarket.com for assistance with putting your information into the correct field/s, or call our Technical Support team on 0808 1202 877 (option 3 for Technical Support).
Can I still list a property if I do not have the required information yet?
National Trading Standards requires all Part A information to be available for all UK residential properties (both for sale and for rent) from 31 May 2022. While we don’t have any plans to remove properties, National Trading Standards may get in touch with you if your listings don’t comply with the new guidance.
What do I need to display on a Shared Ownership listing?
The guidelines state you must display
- The share for sale and the cost, 25% for £150,000
- The rent on the remaining share, £600 pcm on the remaining 75%
What Tenure information do I need to display on a listing?
You will need to state whether the property is freehold (heritable title), leasehold, commonhold or feudal. You’ll also need to include the following, where relevant:
- Length of lease, written as years remaining at time of marketing
- Annual service charge
- Ground rent
What tenure information is needed on lettings properties?
The minimum tenancy length should be included as the number of months, i.e. 6 months or 12 months.
What’s needed for council tax?
In England, Wales or Scotland, the council tax band will need to be specified and will be between A and I. Only the band needs to be included, you don’t need to include any pricing.
For new homes, you can enter the tax band if it’s known, otherwise select the ‘To be confirmed’ option.
In the case where the tenant is not responsible for paying the council tax, where it may be covered by the landlord or is a student property, it can be listed as ‘Included’ or ‘Exempt’.
Does this guidance apply to property developers in the build to rent sector that build and advertise for letting only their own housing stock on their own
websites?
Yes. The guidance is an interpretation of the CPRs and covers any business-to consumer transaction, in this instance for residential sales and lettings.
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