Parts B and C of the process to improve material information disclosure in property listings are published today within comprehensive new guidance for sales and letting agents.
Read the full guidance:
NTSELAT guidance for Estate Agents
NTSELAT guidance for Letting Agents
Representing the culmination of a programme of work led by the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) alongside industry leaders and the UK’s major property portals including Rightmove, Zoopla, OnTheMarket and Property Pal, the guidance has been developed in response to agents’ calls for clarity on what constitutes material information.
Part B is information that should be covered for all properties – such as the type of property, the building materials used, the number of rooms and information about utilities and parking. Part C is information that only needs to be established if the property is affected by the issue – such as flood risk or restrictive covenants. Part A was announced last year and includes council tax band or rate, property price or rent and tenure information (for sales).
Agents are already obliged under the Consumer Protection Regulations (CPRs) not to omit any material information on property listings. Although material information is any information that is important in helping an average consumer make a decision about a property, until now there hasn’t been a defined list of the basic information required. This has left agents vulnerable to enforcement action, and the aim of this guidance is to help them meet their obligations and reduce this risk. By engaging conveyancers to help them prepare the relevant details at the start of the sales or letting process agents will reap the benefits, with shorter transaction times and fewer fall-throughs that result from important information coming to light.
Sellers will be advised to bring a conveyancer on board at an early stage to help ensure validated information is available to the agent for marketing and that issues like restrictive covenants or boundaries are addressed at an early stage. Buyers or renters will see new data fields appearing on portals and any left empty will be flagged and will have a link explaining what’s missing. This will help consumers understand the benefits of being fully informed before embarking on moving home.
NTSELAT will be monitoring take up on the portals over the next 12 months and agents can use free text to input information whilst waiting for any dedicated categories. As ever, under the CPRs any information can be deemed material if it impacts a consumer’s transactional decision so agents should continue to be mindful of this.
In addition to the guidance on its dedicated webpage, NTSELAT has published short guides for agents, sellers and landlords, and buyers and tenants. It will also be delivering a series of webinars in partnership with steering group members.
Evidence has consistently shown overwhelming support amongst agents for the mandatory disclosure of material information, with a survey of agents in 2021 finding that 91% agreed that a defined list of basic material information would help improve clarity for the industry.
James Munro, senior manager of the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team, said:
“For years, property agents have grappled with what information they should be providing and how, and when it should be disclosed. Their call for help was clear. And too many consumers suffer emotionally and financially because important information crops up late in the process and the transaction falls through. That’s why I’m delighted to publish this guidance today, as the culmination of nearly three years’ work in collaboration with our partners to define and clarify what constitutes material information and to ensure that agents can access that information promptly and with the support they need.
“This industry-wide effort will create consistency and raise standards across the board, and I would like to thank all those who were involved, in particular the property portals, industry leaders and agents themselves who have made such an important contribution.
“With all sections of the industry ready to support agents I am confident the process of change will be smooth and that the benefits – faster transactions, fewer complaints and fall-throughs and ultimately, greater consumer trust – will be quickly felt.”
Lesley Horton, deputy Ombudsman, The Property Ombudsman, commented: “Buying or renting a property is one of the most expensive and important decisions a consumer can make. Our data tells us that consumers value transparent and relevant information to support their decisions. Availability of good quality information earlier in the process will benefit consumers and should support the reduction of fall-throughs. Agents will have more certainty about the information they are providing and will see the benefit of a reduced risk of failed transactions. NTSELAT has worked closely with industry members to provide detailed guidance that support agents and consumers alike. We look forward to working with our members and all our consumer and industry stakeholders as NTSELAT’s guidance beds in.”
Sean Hooker, head of redress, Property Redress Scheme, said: “This has been a phenomenal joint effort by everyone across the property sector. The obligations for transparency, and upfront information are far from new, but here for the first time is a comprehensive guide to what a property professional is expected and needs to provide to the consumer. It will help clarify the what ifs, the how tos and where to finds, when compiling property listings but also provide a blueprint for material information requirements throughout the entire marketing and transacting of property sales and lettings
“As a major provider of redress, we also welcome the clarity and consistency, this will provide for when resolving complaints and will work with agents to raise standards and overcome the short-term challenges they face as they come up to speed.”
David Cox, Rightmove’s General Counsel, stated: “For a long time agents have wanted clarity and consistency about the material information that they need to include on property listings, so we hope the full guidance published today will achieve both of those. We know that there will be a period of transition as agents consider the new information that they need to include on listings, so we’re providing a range of resources, including webinars and a new CPR training course, to help agents feel confident in understanding and complying with the new guidance. We’ll also be updating our glossary of terms to help home-hunters understand each of the new material information terms and why they are important.”
Beth Rudolf, Director of Delivery at the Conveyancing Association, commented: “Providing a defined list will make it much easier for estate agents to know what has to be provided. Overall though this will benefit consumers and stakeholders where the information will be gathered at the point of listing to identify the Material Information relevant to that property. Of course where this has been gathered and reviewed by the seller’s conveyancer that will only reduce transaction times, as it will all be available to buyers and their conveyancers on sale agreed, avoiding the post code lottery of delays for searches in some areas. Plus, with 90% of transactions going through while the search is up to date, the buyer will be able to rely on the searches obtained to check for Material Information thus reducing fall throughs and transaction delays.”
Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, said: “Propertymark are always keen to see and be involved with collaboration across the property sector, with key stakeholders working together to understand industry challenges and creating solutions that achieve a functional balance for all.
“To have essential information presented with a new level of clarity will help drive consumer confidence and assist agents with delivering essential detail with a unified approach. Propertymark are strong advocates for embracing technology and appreciate in an ever-digitised world, it will be crucial to stay at the forefront of innovation, in order to support the collation and delivery of many areas of the guidance going forward.”
Paul Offley, group compliance officer & director, The Guild of Property Professionals, said: “Whilst this is not new legislation in itself it is good to have some clarity and consistency on what is deemed material information. This will help sales and lettings agents ensure that those involved with the transaction have all the information in order to make an informed decision.
“Whilst this may mean some changes in the information obtained in the long term it has the real benefit of reducing queries at a later date and therefore giving an opportunity to reduce the time between sale agreed and exchange and contribute to the number of ‘fall throughs’.
“As with all change it may take time to fully embed but this is a major step in the industry looking at how it can improve the home buying process. Overall this is a good way forward for both consumers and agents. We will now be hosting various webinars and briefing sessions across all of our members to help implementation.”
Andrew Bulmer, chief executive, The Property Institute, said: “The Property Institute, as the leading professional body for residential property managers, welcomes publication of this National Trading Standards guidance to help build common understanding of what is meant by ‘material information’ in property sales and lettings. This comprehensive and pragmatic guidance will help raise standards by encouraging a consistent and transparent approach to sharing material information. It is a great example of how key stakeholders in our sector can collaborate effectively to move the industry forward to help consumers make informed decisions, in what can be a very challenging and opaque process.”
Andrew Simpson, head of innovation business development at the Coal Authority, added: “Understanding coal mining legacy can be an important part of buying a home and we’re glad to see this new guidance being created which will improve the process for both buyers and sellers.
“It’s been great to work with the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team on this project to ensure upfront material information is provided across the industry.”
I appreciate that the published list is stated to be not exhaustive, but the second paragraph of the Eye comments below it refer to revealing restrictive covenants, which are not mentioned in the list. Whilst this information can be obtained from a simple Land Registry search, the information contained in the title document will require careful scrutiny and interpretation of the usual legal wording which I suggest is beyond the skill set of many working in estate agents involved in listing a property. These covenants often run to several pages and some historic covenants are largely irrelevant, such as an inability to sell intoxicating liquor from the premises. Does a buyer really need to know all of this? I doubt if most conveyancers even bother to explain this sort of detail to buyers under the present process!
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Of course conveyancers explain, easements, restrictions and restrictive covenants (the relevant ones) to their clients.
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Absolutely, are agents now becoming lawyers ? I can see PI claims going through the roof and agents premiums increasing massively at the increased risk of litigation!
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Collaboration Simon.
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Let the agents do the lawyers job
This is a joke
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Yeah at the very last minute a day before exchange
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Be fair – it’s sent the same time lawyers choose to forward the property information and fittings & contents forms they were sent months’ prior. About 3 to 5 days before the seller naively expects the buyer to have signed and be ready to exchange contracts.
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Property Information Forms are ordinarily provided in the contract pack within days of a Memorandum of Sale being issued. Don’t know which lawyers you work with to form that opinion but you need to have a close-look at these relationships!
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Compliance with Part A material information is less than 60%. The industry and stakeholders in the sector were previously given 18 months to provide the basics of price, tenure, lease, and service charge details (where applicable), council tax, and EPC rating. Eighteen months on from the Part A deadline, only just above half the industry is complying with the existing regulations.
This is not because the industry is wayward and unprofessional; only 1 in 5 data feeds are geared up to provide the required data, and 80% of feeds cannot do what agents need them to do.
I’ve been aware of what was coming for a little while now, not in this full detail, but in enough to assess how the service suppliers will meet this challenge for their clients.
I solved this problem three years ago, so I know that, from agents at the coalface via service suppliers that are Property Data Trust Framework compliant (to provide reliable data provenance), working with the conveyancing industry and their suppliers, the redress schemes, and regulators, we all have to work together on a solution.
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I worry about the actual implementation of this, there is little point in setting a standard that is unlikely to be achieved by agents. Sadly many agents will ignore it or lack the education to understand and interpret what is required. I simply cannot see agents doing things like planning searches at the current time.
Already so many agents fail to undertake the most basic checks and yet this is not properly policed. Yet again, good agents will adhere and rogue traders will not – yet they will still continue to trade.
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You have hit the nail on the head. We have clowns in town who operate with no EPC, no AML policy….. nothing. Ho many times do you hear ‘ooh, I didn’t have to give all this to the last agent, yet they never get caught, policed, stopped. TSO is a joke. Welcome to millennial Estate Agency. Rant over:)
If it is policed and prosecuted, great, if not a game changer for the cowboys, it will put them miles ahead of the rest of us.
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“Sellers will be advised to bring a conveyancer on board at an early stage to help ensure validated information is available to the agent for marketing and that issues like restrictive covenants or boundaries are addressed at an early stage.”
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Agent to Vendor at take on appointment: ” Yes Madam. Your property will be actively marketed and uploaded to the portals after we have received the required information from your conveyancer. You will receive documentation from them which you will need to send back with a cheque for £XXXX and your ID documents before they start preparing what is needed. We are in their hands but I suspect it make be 2 to 3 weeks I am afraid.”
Vendor to Agent: “Forget it then. I will instruct *** Estates who said nothing about this and said they could have it online within 24 hours.”
Do I hear anyone shouting “HIP”!
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100% correct
When you sell you make life as easy as possible for people to buy
The less complicated the better
What you suggest is exactly what will happen but lawyers know nothing about selling they live in a different universe where everyone gets on and no one is under any pressure to hit targets and they can hide behind e mails and not have to talk to a person
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Exactly this!
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This is a really comprehensive guide and the key to success is going to be the ability to record the information easily on CRM/ portal feeds plus the confidence of agents in advising sellers.
Im currently updating all of The Able Agents’ content and think this us going to need a whole new course! Thats my weekend taken
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When Caveat Emptor swings to Caveat Venditor ? The call for greater material guidance came off the back of a extremely buoyant market where purchasers were making impulsive purchases ahead of due diligence. One click, one viewing and offer made. That said, it provides a good opportunity for the better amongst us to deal in (only) the facts and provide as much information on marketing as possible without compromising ourselves under the PMA or other prevailing acts of law. Buyers are future vendors, and agents (just as been the case with Part A) can display themselves as diligent, meticulous and more thorough than their competitors.
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“PMA” ?
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There are already service providers available to us geared up at providing all the necessary information. As an industry, do we continue to make excuses for not utilising the tools at our disposal?
As Root1 has noted, provision of material information is an ideal opportunity to adhere to regulation and showcase the transparency and professionalism of our service vs those competitors who are either uneducated or willfully negligent when it comes to compliance. I’ll leave the policing of the regulations to Trading Standards knowing I’m on the right side of the fence.
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there is an 8 in 10 chance that anyone who reads your post will not be able to get the information from the material info they’re buying in from the supplier, onto their CRM system and then on to the portals.
It is not the information or data that’s the issue but the mechanics of displaying it on portals or websites
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If I where a betting man, I’d wager the portals and most major CRM providers are already well underway with the required changes. Many of them will have had an idea of what was coming. I find myself still explaining to some of my peers about material part A….
There would likely be a grace period to implement, but further guidance and support on what this looks like in practice would certainly be beneficial.
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Sadly not, the portals haven’t communicated how the feeds will be updated yet.
One of the major portal has said it won’t be ready with the feed changes until the middle of next year.
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Utter dribble. Part A is fine. Part B & C is not possible 25% of the time. Unless a property comes with a pack of information already supplied, agents will have to guess much of this information. (Who buys a house based on mobile reception ? No one. The timber houses now look like brick houses & Utilities ? What a waste of time.
Agents will push more to ‘modern online auctions’ … absolute clowns.
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PROPERTY INDUSTRY EYE TERMS & CONDITIONS #6. Users posting comments on the site may not post direct hyperlinks to other websites and especially may not do so by use of their username. Users may not use comments to promote a service or business.
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Some companies are offering ways to publish the material information in a simple page that can be added to any portal / property marketing page.
Noting Trading Standards requirement for the information to be ‘no more than 1 click away’ from the marketing page, this approach is compliant and simple.
LINK REMOVED – PROPERTY INDUSTRY EYE TERMS & CONDITIONS #6. Users posting comments on the site may not post direct hyperlinks to other websites and especially may not do so by use of their username. Users may not use comments to promote a service or business.
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It’s 2023 and the internet has existed for 40 years (41 in 5 weeks time).
Within an hour I can get ALL the relevant details required and prepare the property details and launch it on the market for sale. It requires that:
1. I can use a laser tape measure properly – i.e. properly trained
2. Take some photos – easy to do badly, but not hard to do reasonably well
3. Write down some entertaining information about the property and it’s location
4. Visit the land registry to download the relevant details of tenure, etcetera
5. Create a brochure and an online listing that links to the relevant documents where necessary/ appropriate.
I accept that this is quite “detail oriented” and perhaps not a task that most sales people are interested in doing, but that just means that you need to employ a suitably trained, non-salesperson for the task.
I just don’t see what the problem is in adopting this full steam ahead.
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Anonymous Coward
You missed Money Laundering checks and EPC – are you qualified, otherwise it will be more than an hour!!
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These requirements are supported by THIRTY-FOUR pages of guidance notes on sales and TWENTY-SIX pages of guidance notes on lettings.
Commentary in the guidance notes on Part C is of particular interest to bewildered estate agents :
“Part C information may or may not need to be established depending on whether the property is affected or impacted by the issue in question. This section applies to properties affected by the issue itself, for example, because of the location of the property. We acknowledge that property agents are not experts in the fields below and are generally not qualified to interpret title deeds and associated contracts or to make judgements on building safety.
Where a matter in this section is identified and further information is required, we recommend that property owners/sellers and agents seek the services of qualified professionals (including, where relevant, a surveyor or conveyancer) to assist with the interpretation of the matter identified. This includes: ■ Building safety ■ Restrictions and rights ■ Flood and erosion risk ■ Planning permission and proposals for development ■ Property accessibility and adaptations ■ Coalfield or mining area This list is not exhaustive, and property agents should disclose any information which is material information. ”
NTSELA has, to quote the vernacular, thrown a gigantic spanner into the works of what has hitherto been a well-defined and respected legal process. What’s worse the design of the spanner has been copied from countries like Norway and Cyprus.
The guidance notes will be dissected in the weeks to come, and no doubt estate agents will be reviewing their professional indemnity insurance arrangements to cover a significantly increased exposure to future negligence claims.
Meanwhile, the public will be wondering why NTSELA has interfered in the conveyancing process in effect by the back door, without full consultation with the vast majority of mainstream property lawyers.
These changes are not in the public interest and will expose the public to increased costs and risk for no good reason.
Caveat Emptor has now become Caveat Venditor”
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Material information guidance is certainly long overdue – but totally useless unless enforced!
Some examples of obvious shortcomings:
– where is the requirement to identify the property (i.e. give its address)!
– Part A has been in force for 18 months, yet many agents are still quoting ‘POA’
– Part B 1.2 (materials used in its construction). Few agents would know… E.g. a rendered 18th century house, subsequently extended in keeping (i.e. part 9″ brick, part timber framed, part cavity brick) – how many owners/an agents could tell? Or the more modern apparently brick built house that it actually timber framed?
– Part B 3.6 According to both the O2 and Ofcom coverage maps, we are shown as having a ‘good’ voice signal but, in reality, have no mobile reception at all. Which applies??
Some tidying up/clarity needed, I think?
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I completely agree.
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“By engaging conveyancers to help them prepare the relevant details at the start of the sales or letting process agents will reap the benefits, with shorter transaction times and fewer fall-throughs that result from important information coming to light.
Sellers will be advised to bring a conveyancer on board at an early stage to help ensure validated information is available to the agent for marketing and that issues like restrictive covenants or boundaries are addressed at an early stage.”
So, a Home Information Pack in other words. Here we go again!
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As an ex HIP provider (a bundle of docs of very little use to buyer or conveyancer), that is like saying my dad’s old Ford Anglia is like a Tesla.
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I am sure the HIPs of 2023 would also suitably be upgraded Rob.
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You can get a thumbs down on here for anything LOL. Someone is having a bad day – hope you wake up tomorrow in a better mood. (Cue thumbs down LOL)
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Happy to oblige. LOL
PS I did thumbs up your original post.
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HIPS were a disaster in the past and Material Information will replicate their abysmal record.
How on earth will agents comply with 34 pages of guidance? Moreover, PI premiums will soar.
The guidance notes make it clear that the risk of information being wrongly classified lies with the agent.
This misguided concept has not been properly thought through, Decades of a selling culture undermined as agents are forced by law to look two ways at once!
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Going to be a disaster – who is going to train all of this out? Property construction? Most listers have no professional qualifications, such as the Propertymark Level 3 in Residential Sales, as a basic entry to agency. The TSO is trying to implement things in an unregulated industry where no mandatory qualifications are in place. I attended TPO meetings a few years ago with Lord Best in attendance (Chair of the Regulation of Property Agents Working Group) and author of the much lauded RoPA Regs. What happened to those? Regulation must come in first, with mandatory licencing of estate agents, who must be qualified to a national standard and hence trained – THEN they will be able to provide the info required in Parts B and C. Otherwise, this is going to be a car crash (Ford Anglia or Tesla – other models are available!)
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Collaboration, agents and conveyancers. We did it in the 70s, 80s and 90s. It can be done again.
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And I knew, and still know, plenty of excellent agents who can read, understandand and comply with 34 pages of guidance.
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I’m sorry but anyone who doesn’t have concerns about this rushed and ill-consulted implementation of MI/UFI is either clueless or looking to line their own pockets (probably both).
The main argument that I have heard as to why it is not an issue that agents are now going to be expected to advise on restrictive covenants is that such matters are revealed by the register of title. What a nonsense. Even if true, and as other commentators have pointed out, many titles (especially modern ones) have pages and pages of covenants, some of which will be completely irrelevant, hypothetical, unenforceable or written in legalese. The point is not that agents are incapable, the point is why should agents be expected to do this? We have lawyers for a reason.
And for those who are saying outsource it to a lawyer – completely naïve. Costs will be prohibitive and it will instead be outsourced to a piece of software or a HIPs-esque company; which I suspect is what those who are in favour of these changes are hoping!
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Rushed and ill-consulted, nothing could be further from the truth Colin. It has taken ages (and a lot of hard work) to get to where we are now.
Agents will not be expected to advise on restrictive covenants etc, they are just being asked to disclose them, and they are relatively easily obtainable from HMLR. Trading Standards are wanting conveyancers to get involved earlier on so they can provide advice. It will be up to those individual conveyancing firms and conveyancers as to how restrictive any cost might be, and I anticipate that those costs will vary dramatically.
We agree on one thing it seems, some of this work might be outsourced to a piece of software or a HIPs-esque company (although this is nothing like a HIP, so the term HIP-esque is a strange one), which is exactly why conveyancers should be studying the guidance carefully and working out how best they can be part of what is set to become the new normal, and thankfully many are.
Conveyancers have three choices, ignore these changes (dangerous), fight them (too late), embrace them (see them as an opportunity).
We have locked horns on this subject many times over the last few months and I am not going there again with you or Stephen Larcombe. On this issue now, time will tell.
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Yes Rob I agree that we have locked horns on this issue many times and there seems to be no benefit in us continuing to go back and forth repeating ourselves, we are firmly entrenched in our respective positions. But with all due respect Rob I have colleagues who weren’t even born the last time you had conduct of a file, perhaps you should concede that you are not best place to weigh in on this issue and steer clear. It is not your fight.
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Low blow Colin, even for you. I have way more expedience on Material Information, Up Front Information and even HIPs than you will ever have, and that is after 30 years at the coal face of conveyancing, and the process is still very similar (only slower and more stressful) than it was then, so I think I am able to “weigh in.”
It isn’t my fight? There is no fight, it is here. My main aim is to help make it work and thereby improve the home buying and selling process for all involved in it.
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It is not low, Rob. It is a perfectly fair point to make, especially since you have brought it up, that whatever experience you have and whatever knowledge you can offer on the topic, is approximately 20 years out of date . Continuing your boxing analogy for a moment, you are continuing to throw punches despite your corner already throwing in the towel. Clearly those of us who are still doing the job are at the very least worth listening to, but sadly you don’t appear to think so.
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Whilst I agree the extra information may improve the home buying process for buyers (if they bother to take in what they are presented with), that must by definition make things worse for vendors. They will face increased up front costs and delays, and may find that their home is much more difficult to actually find a buyer for. This whole Material Information process is rooted in consumerism but the powers that be seem to have failed to recognise that most vendors are “consumers” as well. Remember, it is not the agent that is the actual seller.
Also, whilst the issued guidance suggests more involvement from conveyancers at an early stage, there is NO guidance specifically for conveyancers!
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The majority of property lawyers in the UK have not been consulted on these unworkable proposals.
Debating issues based on a false premise of three choices is no debate.
The real choice here is for conveyancing to be led by conveyancers doing what they do best, or for conveyancing to be conducted in a toxic veil of ignorance as to the legal issues.
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It’s clear that we need to find solutions to ensure this change is executed effectively to achieve the desired benefit.
Whilst your point is valid and covenants in particular pose a challenge for implementing the guidance in the real world, surely you agree with the goal & spirit of upfront material information?
Assuming you do, let’s rally together and find solutions. We all benefit from an enhanced customer experience and this is one of the many potential ways to achieve this.
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It depends on what you mean by “goal & spirit”, groot. Should home buyers have access to as much information as possible as early as possible? Absolutely, but should they be forced to pay for it? No. If that were such an attractive prospect then HIPs would have succeeded instead of being a catastrophic failure. Or failing that, auctions, especially modern method auctions, would have become the dominant method of buying and selling property, which hasn’t happened. I am sorry to say that the concept of UFI has had ample opportunity to succeed but has failed at every opportunity. How many more opportunities should be given? My suggestion is none.
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Colin, So who should be paying for any material/up-front information that may carry a cost to provide if not the seller? Or should homebuyers only be provided with data that is free to access?
I have mixed feelings on the way this has been introduced, but the reality is the digital data in the homebuying process is minimal at best and until any government change that, we are always going to be struggle against the tide.
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Hi HellofromSurrey, my contention is that the ‘one size fits all’ approach of MI will mean that sellers will have to pay for information which may not ordinarily be mandated, or the buyer simply may not want. Or the buyer/buyer’s solicitor may not be satisfied with it and the buyer instructs their own. These are the sorts of things that happen in conveyancing. It’s wasteful and I suspect will annoy a lot of clients.
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For anyone concerned with translating legal terminology from the title register, try uploading your own title pdf document to ChatGPT and ask it to list the restrictions in plain english (feature available for the ChatGPT paid version).
It took me 2 mins and worked perfectly. Like it or not, most consumers are tech savvy and know how to use AI tools.
I appreciate this material information changes present a different way of working, but we really need get ahead of this and find workable solutions that bring value to consumers.
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