What must an estate agent tell me in a property listing?
Property listings now have to carry defined material information — tenure, council tax, services, and issues such as flood risk. What the three parts cover, what to do when a listing is silent, and who enforces it.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 9 min
- Read
- 3 min
Short answer
Agents must not omit information an average buyer or renter needs to make an informed decision. Guidance for the sector groups it into three parts: basic details every listing needs, standard information such as utilities and connections, and issues that only affect some properties, such as flood risk, restrictive covenants and building safety. A missing item is a question to ask, not proof of a problem — and persistent omissions can be reported to Trading Standards.
This changed how listings read. Previously a listing was marketing and everything else came out in conveyancing, months later and after you had spent money. The material information rules pull a defined set of facts forward to the point where you are deciding whether to view. It is worth knowing what should be there, because the fastest way to avoid a wasted purchase attempt is to read the listing properly.
Step by step
- Check the basics first.Price, tenure — freehold, leasehold or share of freehold — and council tax band. For a leasehold property this part should also cover the lease length remaining, the ground rent and the service charge.
- Read the services and connections.Electricity, water and drainage arrangements, heating type, broadband availability and mobile signal, and parking. These are the everyday things a buyer notices only after moving in, and they are the reason the second part of the guidance exists.
- Look for the issue-specific items.Flood risk and flood defences, building safety, restrictive covenants and rights of way, accessibility and adaptations, planning permissions and proposals, and coalfield or mining risk. These only apply to some properties, so silence may be legitimate — or may be an omission.
- Ask in writing for anything missing.Email the agent rather than asking on a viewing, and keep the reply. If a fact later turns out to be different, a written answer from the agent is evidence and a spoken one is not.
- Cross-check the items you can check yourself.Council tax band, EPC, flood risk and planning history are all available from public sources for free. Checking them takes minutes and occasionally reveals a discrepancy worth asking about.
- Know that this does not replace conveyancing.Material information is a marketing disclosure duty on the agent. It is not a survey, not a title check and not a substitute for searches. It tells you whether to spend money investigating, not whether to buy.
- Complain in the right order if information was wrong.The agent's own complaints procedure first, then the redress scheme they must belong to — The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme. Misleading listings are also a Trading Standards matter.
Tips
- Look up the EPC and the council tax band yourself before viewing. Both are free and public, and both occasionally differ from what a listing says.
- For a leasehold flat, the lease length and service charge in the listing are the two numbers that decide whether the property is worth investigating at all.
- Screenshot the listing when you offer. Listings are edited, and the version you relied on is worth keeping.
Common mistakes
- Treating a listing's silence as reassurance — Absence of an item means it was not stated, not that it does not apply. Ask the question rather than inferring an answer.
- Asking important questions only at a viewing — A spoken answer at a viewing is unrecorded and easily reinterpreted later. Email the same question and keep the reply.
Questions people ask
Does this apply to rentals as well as sales?
Yes. The duty not to mislead applies to lettings marketing too, and the guidance for the sector covers rental listings alongside sales, with the equivalent items — rent, deposit, council tax band, tenure of the letting, and the services and issues parts.
Is a listing that omits something automatically breaking the rules?
Not necessarily. The issue-specific part only applies where the issue exists, and agents are expected to make reasonable efforts to obtain information. Persistent, systematic omission is the thing that attracts enforcement.
Who enforces this?
Trading Standards, including the national estate and letting agency team, under consumer protection law. Individual complaints usually go through the agent's redress scheme first.
Does it apply across the UK?
The underlying consumer protection duty not to mislead applies UK-wide. The detailed sector guidance and the redress arrangements sit alongside it; check the position for the nation you are buying in.