The withdrawal of Nationwide Buying and selling Requirements Property Company (NTSELAT) steerage on Materials Info has created uncertainty and confusion throughout the property sector, and the federal government has but to offer sufficient assist for the trade, a brand new survey has revealed.
Of the 300-plus property professionals who took half, over 96% revealed they really feel unsupported as they attempt to navigate these regulatory adjustments.
The survey, performed by international PropTech specialists, Reapit, follows the choice by NTSELAT to withdraw its steerage for the property trade – in different phrases, Materials Info elements A, B and C.
Whereas particular trade steerage has not been issued by the Competitors and Market Authority (CMA), a key change is that ‘drip pricing’ (the place when shoppers see a low preliminary value, however further charges are added later) has been explicitly outlawed and the definition of an ‘invitation to buy’ is now written into UK legislation underneath the Digital Markets, Competitors and Customers Act 2024 (DMCC Act) – quite than being set out within the previous rules. The DMCC Act got here into impact on 6 April 2025.
This shift considerably raises the stakes for brokers. Failing to incorporate or hyperlink to correct pricing and property particulars in a property advert – whether or not on a portal, social media, or in your company window – could possibly be mechanically thought-about an unfair business follow.
This has created uncertainty amongst trade professionals as as to whether or not they need to proceed to comply with the previous steerage till new steerage is revealed by the CMA.
To assist the trade, Reapit invited brokers to attend a webinar in earlier this month entitled ‘Past the fundamentals: What the DMCC Act actually means for brokers.’
Greater than 400 brokers registered to attend the occasion, which was hosted by their Business Director, Dr Neil Cobbold and featured contributions from David Smith, accomplice at legislation agency Spector, Fixed and Williams, and Greg Tsuman, PPARLA and Managing Director of Lettings at Martyn Gerrard.
Earlier than the webinar, brokers had been invited to participate in a survey designed to gauge the trade’s response to the adjustments regarding Materials Info and the introduction of the DMCC Act.
The Reapit survey revealed that:
+ 61% of brokers had heard of the DMCC Act however didn’t have a agency grasp of the small print; 24% mentioned they understood the important thing adjustments, whereas 11% weren’t conscious of the Act.
+ Almost half (46%) had been nonetheless utilizing the Materials Info steerage from NTSELAT, 40% had been not sure what they need to do, and 14% had moved away from it solely.
+ Lastly, 63.1% mentioned the federal government had not offered enough steerage, 33.6% had been not sure and solely 3.3% felt the federal government had carried out sufficient – which means 96.7% felt underinformed and unsupported.
In the course of the webinar, lawyer David Smith instructed attendees that he didn’t imagine brokers can be a main goal for the Competitors and Markets Authority – which is answerable for implementing the DMCC Act.
“l see this as an evolution, not a revolution,” he mentioned.
Smith emphasised that previous prosecutions had concerned excessive circumstances of deceptive shoppers. Whereas in idea, breaches of the Act might contain important fines (as much as £300,000 or 10% of turnover, whichever is bigger), he pressured that brokers who had been open and sincere about properties in adverts had little to concern.
“That is about deceptive omissions. It’s a tidying-up train to strengthen client safety rules – the DMCC Act covers a variety of industries.
“You might be required to offer info that’s fairly inside your information.
“The principles nonetheless are what they’ve at all times been – not every bit of knowledge must be made obtainable to everyone.”
Greg Tsuman agreed that till additional steerage is revealed, brokers want to make sure they’re being open and sincere in all advertising and marketing supplies.
“Ask cheap questions of (sellers and landlords) and deal with others as you’ll want to be handled your self,” mentioned Tsuman.
And Neil Cobbold, whereas confirming that at this stage Reapit’s present options enable brokers to reveal sufficient info to accommodate the DMCC Act, added: “Guarantee that if one thing, you disclose it.”
Commenting after the webinar, Cobbold defined: “The view from the panel is that the Competitors and Market Authority would give attention to its 4 Ps – proportionality, predictability, course of and tempo – in relation to enforcement in 2025. This implies they may purpose to resolve points early and make sure that any penalties are proportionate. Nevertheless, brokers should not solely have a look at how they current property listings, but in addition at how they promote their gross sales and lettings providers to potential distributors and landlords.
“Cracking down on ‘drip pricing’ has been highlighted by the CMA as one of many areas they’ll be appearing on within the first 12 months so guaranteeing all charges are disclosed upfront when promoting providers will probably be key for brokers.”
