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The latest material information rules will be introduced this Autumn, the industry regulator has revealed.
Speaking at the Propertymark One Conference in Wembley Arena yesterday, James Munro, head of the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) revealed the timeframe for part B and C of the material information rules.
Agency listings have been required to show material information such as leasehold terms, council tax information and price since June 2022, under Part A of the Trading Standards’ reform.
Part B and C will require agents to include information such as restrictive covenants and utilities on their property marketing.
Speaking at the Propertymark conference, Munro said: “Thanks to the commitment of the property portals, we are already seeing listings with more detailed information on leasehold and other information such as council tax.
“This year, in early Autumn I am told we will start seeing early stages of information on utilities, building safety issues and flood risks.”
Munro said guidance and advice will be issued to support agents in providing this information.
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Would make more sense if the Policed the agents who still don't provide the requirements under Part A !
True, really frustrating when you see properties that don't comply, many of which are larger agents and corporates! So often Leasehold info/ Service charge info/ etc is "please contact agent" - its not rocket science and is rather annoying as you can't make a decision on whether to see a property if you dont know if the lease is 80 years or 180 years!
Then I get a call to say that we haven't got the most up to date Trading Standards logo on the correct side of the TPO logo and unless we change it we will be uncompliant! We had a logo (which was correct at the time the website was redesigned 2 yrs ago) on the left side of TPO logo.
We did make the change but when other agents are not even doing the basics correctly it's pretty irritating to be called out for a logo!
I would be interested to know how exactly trading standards expect us to respond to buyers enquiries asking us explain the meaning and implications of covenants published? How many agents, regardless of experience are actually formally qualified (and insured) to offer any comment on title documents, particularly with the many ridiculous and poorly implemented covenants on the thousands of new homes built in the last few years. Despite my thirty plus years in the industry my response is more than likely going to be to tell them to refer to their own legal expert, who will want paying, and probably full title and transfer information from the seller. How is this possibly going to be in a buyers interest before they even view a property. I agree with previous posts, policing and enforcing the current regulations should take priority over introducing yet more red tape; but as the BBC only reported in the last week, there is yet to be any funding made available to local authorities to do the work required, so the cowboys in the industry will continue to get away with it while those of us that take are more professional and compliant approach will be further hindered by increased workload and costs, which will ultimately be passed on to clients.
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