More Mandatory Listings Data on UK Portals One Step Closer

New rules about the 'material information' that estate agents will soon be legally obliged to include on portal listings in the UK are one step closer today after an announcement from the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT).

All portal listings in the UK will now have to include information about the property's council tax information, price and tenure under new rules which will be in enforcement by the end of May. Further rules around the inclusion of information about flood risk, restrictive covenants and property-specific factors are expected to be introduced in the coming weeks but will not affect all properties.

The new material information rules are a product of government consultation with Rightmove, Zoopla, OnTheMarket and PropertyPal as well as industry associations representing various stakeholders to determine a common standard of information for property listings.

James Munro, Senior Manager at NTSELAT, said: “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."

The British property industry has largely welcomed the initiative with agents, lawyers and portals alike agreeing that more data on listings will lead to fewer fall-throughs and speedier transactions in an industry where an estimated 38% of residential transactions collapsed in 2021.

If a portal listing does not contain information for one of the new mandatory fields, the listing will be flagged and the consumer will be directed to an explanation of why the information is important and where and how they can find it.