Material information parts B & C update
Today, Parts B & C of Material Information have been shared by the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT). These are the last two sections of their Material Information Project. They’re all about ensuring important details in property listings are clear as day for prospective buyers and renters.
Under the Consumer Protection Regulations (CPRs), estate agents have always been on the hook for ensuring they don’t leave out key details in property listings. The problem? There wasn’t a solid list of what ‘key details’ meant, which made keeping compliant tricky for agents. The NTSELAT announcement is about helping agents meet their obligations and reducing the risk of getting penalised. This article covers what Material Information is and how you can leverage these new rules to give your agency an edge.
A recap on the 3 parts of Material Information
Part A
Announced in early 2022, Part A requires the disclosure of “Information that, regardless of outcome, is always considered material for all properties regardless of location. This information generally involves unavoidable costs that will be incurred by the occupier regardless of the use of the property. Includes council tax band or rate and the property price and tenure information (for sales).”
Part B
Announced today (30th Nov 2023), Part B requires the disclosure of “Information that should be established for all properties. It applies mainly to utilities (and similar), where non-standard features would affect someone’s decision to look any further at that property.”
Part C
Announced today (30th Nov 2023), Part C requires the disclosure of “Additional material information that may or may not need to be established, depending on whether the property is affected or impacted by the information. Applies to properties affected by the issue itself because of, for example, the location of the property.”
When do you need to disclose this information?
The rules make it clear that to be compliant, agents need to make sure any Material Information that could impact the average consumer’s transactional decision is made available to buyers and tenants up front, and the best way to do this is through the property listing. This includes a clear description, photos, and floor plans on the property’s page, whether on a portal or an agent’s website. And if an agent doesn’t know everything needed, they’re expected to investigate and direct prospective buyers and renters to additional information when it’s relevant.
What’s included in Parts B & C of Material Information?
Part B – information that should be established for all properties
- Physical characteristics of the property – i.e. the property type (house, flat, etc) and type of construction
- Number and types of room – including room measurements
- Utilities – how they are supplied. Covering electricity, water, sewerage, heating, broadband, and mobile coverage.
- Parking
Part C – information that may or may not need to be established depending on whether the property is affected by the issue
- Building safety – e.g., unsafe cladding, asbestos, risk of collapse
- Restrictions – e.g. conservation area, listed building status, tree preservation order
- Rights and easements – e.g. public rights of way, shared drives
- Flood risk
- Coastal erosion risk
- Planning permission – for the property itself and its immediate locality
- Accessibility/adaptations – e.g. step-free access, wet room, essential living accommodation on entrance level
- Coalfield or mining area
Create a competitive edge with upfront information
Whilst some agents will look at these new rules as more work to do, others will see it as an opportunity and here’s why:
Non-compliant agent’s listings are likely to perform worse
Snuck into the announcement was this comment from NTSELAT “Buyers or renters will see new data fields appearing on portals and any left empty will be flagged and will have a link explaining what’s missing.” along with the stat “41% of respondents [buyers and renters] assume that missing information means something must be wrong with the property.”
I imagine a future where non-compliant listings flag warning signs to prospective buyers and renters, similar to what the chief engineer at a nuclear power plant would see if the plant was going into meltdown.
Reducing the risk of dis-instruction
For sellers, providing all the information needed to get their property on the market is overnight becoming more work for them. Once they’ve done it once with one agent, it’s going to be harder for another agent to convince them to go through all this admin again without a compelling cause.
Avoiding the wrong buyer will become much easier
Being upfront with all the key details about the properties for sale means agents are more likely to find the right buyer – and keep them. It’ll avoid any surprises later on that might make a buyer think twice. Plus, it’s a great way to check that the seller really can sell the property and that all the necessary info for a sale is ready to go.
There have been various pilots with Upfront Material Information around the country, and they’ve each proven that more information earlier in the sale can speed up the transaction.
You’ll be able to build better relationships with buyers and personalise their experience with you
This last point is my favourite, upfront property information will start to create a far more personalised buyer journey. Take the disclosures around the planning permissions as an example. For most, this is just a simple requirement to disclose anything planning-related impacting the property, but a smart agent could take this a step further. A planning search will uncover what’s happening in the locality; for example, multiple houses on the street have had planning approved for single-storey extensions and dormers. Powerful information that can be leveraged as a sales tool when your prospective buyer starts telling you about their plans to grow their family or add some value in the future.
The greate agents out there will take this new property information and tailor their sales to their buyers.
Put your compliance on autopilot
Staying on top of Material Information Parts A, B, & C is a breeze when you’ve got the right tech in place. Kotini streamlines the whole process, handling client onboarding, listing compliance, and referrals to your chosen broker and conveyancing partners (not a random panel), so you can save time on admin and keep those listings moving.
With Kotini, sellers can fill out Material Information any time of the day, and our tech gently reminds them to provide all the information and lets the estate agent know as soon as they’re done.
Kotini takes care of all this in one experience for you and your sellers, verifying their identity with biometric and digital ID checks, ensuring they’re legitimate and getting your sales contracts signed. With Kotini, you can stop draining your drains your team’s time by ditching the paper-based processes or a mish-mash of systems that you use to handle ID, contracts and PIQs.
