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Material information on property listings – what you need to know


New guidelines around the “material information” you need to include on property listings were recently issued by Trading Standards. Here’s an overview of what’s included and how we at Rightmove are helping you stay compliant.

Material information: must-read documents

The Trading Standards guidelines
Trading standards’ additional guidance note on Price on Application (POA)

How to stay compliant on Rightmove (links to emails recently sent to our customers):

If you’re an estate agent that uploads properties via a data feed
If you’re an estate agent that manually uploads properties via Rightmove Plus
If you’re a new homes developer

Material information FAQs

Below, we’ve summarised most of the questions answered by Rightmove’s Legal and Compliance Director David Cox in our live Q&A webinar on 10th May. We also ran a follow-up webinar to go into detail on more of your questions. Watch the recording of our second session here.

The scope of the guidelines

Why have these guidelines been introduced?

Are the guidelines a legal requirement? What happens if you don’t comply?

What is covered in Part A?

Where does the Part A information need to be displayed?

Who needs to adhere to these guidelines?

Do the rules apply to commercial properties?

Do the rules apply to the sale of land?

Do the rules apply to overseas properties advertised on Rightmove?

When do these guidelines come into force?

 

Pricing

Can we use Price On Application?

Does this mean that it will effectively be unlawful for agents to use a confidential listings strategy?

Can we use Guide Price, Prices from…, Offers in the Region Of, Offers in Excess of, etc?

How does pricing needs to be displayed on lettings properties?

How should information on security and holding deposits for rented properties be shown?

Should we display the security deposit as a numeric figure or as text, e.g. 5 weeks’ rent?

What pricing do we need to show on Shared Ownership listings?

 

Tenure

What Tenure information do we need to display on properties for sale?

How can we validate the information about the leasehold, etc, if the vendor has provided it and a solicitor hasn’t been appointed yet?

What Tenure information do we need to display on properties for let?

 

Council tax

Do we need to include the price and dates, or just the band?

What about new builds, where you don’t know the council tax band?

What about rented properties where council tax is included or not paid by the tenants, e.g. student properties?

 

Implementation of the guidelines on Rightmove

How will these changes be implemented on Rightmove listings?

What fields is Rightmove adding within its Real Time Data Feed to accommodate the new guidelines?

What if a field doesn’t exist on Rightmove for data we are required to provide?

How should we display this information on our listings before 1st July?