Material information: a matter of reluctance & ignorance?
Material information: a matter of reluctance & ignorance?
How much sellers disclose to buyers ahead of a sale is proving a contentious issue, with estate agents playing a pivotal role in the process. Governing this is the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. The legislation stipulates that estate and letting agents have a legal obligation not to omit material information from property listings.
There’s also guidance from National Trading Standards’ Estate and Letting Agency team, which details the type of material information that should be disclosed when a property is marketed.
What is material information? It is information that helps buyers and renters make informed decisions regarding whether to make an offer on a property for sale or to rent. Basics (classed as Part A of material information) must be included, such as the property price/monthly rent, what council tax band the property is in and whether it’s freehold or leasehold.
As of November 2023, Trading Standards required the material information to be more detailed and broader. For example, a property listing now must detail if there’s unsafe cladding or whether the property has flooded in the last five years, among many other wide-ranging disclosures. These more detailed facts are classed as Parts B and C of material information.
Despite material information Parts A, B and C being a legal requirement and hefty fines for agents who flout the rules, there appears to be an issue when it comes to transparency. Survey results released in January 2025 found agents are omitting critical property information. The research, conducted by the HomeOwners Alliance, looked at listings for properties in London and Manchester appearing across Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket.
Shockingly, HomeOwners Alliance found 25% of listings did not include an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating, despite this being a legal requirement since 2013. There were other basic oversights too: 6% of listings failed to reveal if the property was freehold or leasehold and 33% left off details about the property’s council tax band.
When it came to leasehold properties being advertised, 25% of listings did not include the number of years left on the lease, while 20% of listings failed to disclose service charge costs. In addition, 50% excluded details of ground rent and less than 10% included the date of the next ground rent review.
Agents have argued that the type of information they are required to collect falls into conveyancing territory and providing such pivotal data should be left to the legal professionals. In many cases, agents are relying on unverified information supplied by the vendor to comply with material information and this itself is causing a new issue.
Also released in January were results following a study of sales timeframes. To establish what may be causing delays, Moverly surveyed several current UK home sellers. The intent was to discover how much of an understanding vendors had regarding material information, and measure how proactive they had been in providing their agents with the required property details.
The results found 1 in 5 sellers could be delaying their own sale due a lack of understanding regarding material information. Worryingly, 37% said their agent had not guided or advised them on the material information required.
Looking at the results in more detail, 23% of sellers said they were either ‘unsure, have provided none of it, or have only provided some of it’ when it came to material information Part A.
When it came to material information Part B, 20% of sellers were either ‘unsure, have provided none of it, or have only provided some of it’. This figure increased to 37% when asked about material information Part C.
We may see a change of attitude towards material information soon. From April 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will oversee material information and adherence rates. It will have new powers to fine agents as much as 10% of global turnover for non-compliance. Experience also suggests that moving ‘in the direction’ of providing up front info will make an agent less of a target for action. To that end providing data rooms – common in the auction industry for showing up front info – is now becoming more common, Tim Main of Property Information Products says, “We’ve seen the take up of data rooms accelerate, especially as these can now include searches and provide an extra income stream for agents.”
Looking more long term, National Trading Standards’ Estate and Letting Agency team has set a clear goal. It wants portals including Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket to reject properties where the agent has failed to populate their listing with a minimum amount of material information.
Agents may have already noticed that new fields have been added to the back-end of the portals, allowing them to input more material information. Agents are also being encouraged to use the property description to disclose mandatory material information that falls outside of the pre-set fields.
At the moment, the property industry is in a grey area – somewhere between compulsory, legally-required and enforceable. While there is no timescale for when portals will reject listing without a full complement of material information, we expect there to be a better uptake in 2025.
If you’re a property professional needing to spend more time on material information and less time visiting flats and houses, please speak to us. Viewber can carry out viewings and inspections on your behalf, leaving you free to focus on compliance.
