Mandatory Information on Property Listings
It was a typical Monday morning at the Milne Moser offices this week but, shortly after replying to enquiries and messages that had arrived over the weekend, there was a ‘Breaking News’ email article which caught our eye…
The headline from Estate Agent Today read: ‘Agents Alert – new info must be included on all property listings’
Estate Agent Today are a very reliable resource for the UK property sales and lettings sector, so we knew that it was something worth reading further.
In short, the UK government and Trading Standards have jointly announced compulsory new information which must be included on property listings by the end of May, including a property’s council tax band or rate (for lettings and sales) and the property price and tenure information (for sales).
These new requirements at the first such changes by the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) who, in partnership with major property portals, are seeking to define what constitutes ‘material information’ for property listings as part of the government’s ‘Levelling Up’ agenda. They comment:
“The home buying and selling process which can be expensive, time-consuming and stressful will be improved. Around a third of all housing transactions fall through, costing people hundreds of millions of pounds each year.”
“The UK Government and the industry will work together to ensure the critical material information buyers need to know – like tenure type, lease length and any service charges – are available digitally wherever possible from trusted and authenticated sources…”
The intention for this exercise is that it will help reduce unnecessary enquiries, swifter sale and tenancy completions, and fewer transaction fall throughs as a result of would-be buyers or tenants being in possession of more factual information about a property.
“This all sounds great and perfectly logical, so why are you telling us?” we might hear you reasonably ask.
Good question. Especially as Milne Moser Sales & Lettings already include this data as standard on any property we bring to market. In fact, we’ve included all of this information in our property brochures and online listings for the last ten years or so.
We were somewhat perplexed: why don’t all estate and letting agents do this already?
Surely the logic stands that by including as much information as possible potential buyers will be better informed and sales or tenancies can be agreed with everyone aware of the full facts from the outset? Or are we missing something here?
And when it comes to improving the speed of home selling and buying, in the six months between September 2021 and February 2022, the average time from a sale being agreed to exchange for Milne Moser’s clients was 84 days compared to a national average of 127 for a similar period.
At the start of 2022, we introduced a new feature to our website property listings with the express intention of providing even more property-specific information to buyers and tenants.
“Sprift is nothing short of a game-changer for the property industry.” Says Paige McNaughton, Sales Manager at Milne Moser. “In addition to the key facts we gather from clients about their homes, Sprift taps into an incredible database that includes just about every property in the UK and presents up-to-date information that is genuinely useful to buyers.”
“The information we can feed through to our website includes obvious things like plot size, the flood risk of the property, Land Registry Title Plans, tenure and title number, as well as data on mobile phone coverage and estimated broadband speeds.”
“Local schools are also listed, with transport links and, most interestingly for a lot of buyers and vendors alike, the prices of properties sold nearby in recent years.”
At Milne Moser, we pride ourselves on the Gold Standard service we provide and feel that this should naturally extend to include providing detailed, accurate and appropriate information on our client’s properties.
“The quality and integrity of this information is often commented on and an area we’d never entertain cutting corners or withholding any information which might jeopardise a sale or tenancy agreement.” Adds Paige.
“We welcome the news that NTSELAT are introducing these new mandatory standards as it can only be good for the sector as a whole and provide further confidence for buyers and tenants.”
If you’re considering selling or letting your property and would like to find out more about the full range of services we provide, our approach to property marketing and representing your interests, then we’d love to hear from you.
Contact Paige McNaughton, Sales Manager, at paige@milnemoser.co.uk or for property lettings, email Kate Ridley, Lettings Manager, at kate@milnemoser.co.uk
Please Note: From time to time, this website (including this article) may also include links to other websites. These links are provided for your convenience to provide further information. They do not signify that Milne Moser Property Limited or Milne Moser Solicitors endorse these website(s) and we have no responsibility for the content of the linked website(s).
Article sources and references:
‘Agents Alert – new info must be included on all property listings’ (Graham Norwood, Estate Agency Today, 21 February 2022)
‘New material information rules a major step towards mandatory disclosure in listings’ (James Munro, Property Industry Eye, 22 February 2022)
‘Conveyancing logjam eases as smaller pipelines speed up moves’ (Graham Norwood, Estate Agency Today, 21 November 2022)
