Agents feel unsupported over critical issues following the withdrawal of guidance on crucial Material Information requirements.

That’s the claim by industry supplier Reapit, which has canvassed the opinions of some 300-plus industry professionals.

Over 96% say they feel unsupported as they seek to navigate the issue in the absence of guidance from the National Trading Standards Estate and Lettings Agency Team (NTSELAT).

While specific industry guidance has not been issued by the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) – which has taken over responsibility for the issue from Trading Standards – the authority has created new worries.

Reapit says a key change is that ‘drip pricing’ (where consumers see a low initial price, but extra fees are added later) has been explicitly outlawed and the definition of an ‘invitation to purchase’ is now written into UK law under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC Act). The DMCC Act came into effect in April this year.

A statement from Reapit says: “This shift significantly raises the stakes for agents. Failing to include or link to accurate pricing and property details in a property advert – whether on a portal, social media, or in your agency window – could be automatically considered an unfair commercial practice.

“This has created uncertainty among industry professionals as to whether or not they should continue to follow the old guidance until new guidance is published by the CMA.”

During a recent webinar on the subject, high profile property lawyer David Smith told attendees that he did not believe agents would be a primary target for the Competition and Markets Authority, which is responsible for enforcing the DMCC Act.

Smith emphasised that past prosecutions had involved extreme cases of misleading consumers. While in theory, breaches of the Act could involve significant fines (up to £300,000 or 10% of turnover, whichever is greater), he stressed that agents who were open and honest about properties in adverts had little to fear.

“This is about misleading omissions. It’s a tidying-up exercise to strengthen consumer protection regulations – the DMCC Act covers a wide range of industries. You are required to provide information that is reasonably within your knowledge. The rules still are what they have always been – not every piece of information has to be made available to everybody.” 

The Reapit survey revealed that while some 61% of agents had heard of the DMCC Act, only 24% said they understood the key changes. Some 11% were completely unaware of the Act.

Nearly half (46%) were still using the Material Information guidance from NTSELAT, 40% were unsure what they should do, and 14% had moved away from it entirely.

Finally, 63.1% said the government had not provided sufficient guidance, 33.6% were unsure and only 3.3% felt the government had done enough – meaning 96.7% felt under-informed and unsupported.