What is Material Information?

Material Information is the set of property facts that UK estate agents and letting agents must disclose in every property listing under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.  The principle is straightforward: if a fact could reasonably influence a buyer’s decision to make an offer, it must appear in the listing itself, not emerge later in the transaction.

This applies to residential sales and lettings across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.  It applies whether the listing is on a portal, on an agent’s own website, in print, or in any other consumer-facing marketing material.

Failure to disclose material information is treated as an unfair commercial practice under UK consumer law.  Under the regulatory framework that took effect on 6 April 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority can investigate breaches and impose substantial financial penalties without going to court.

The legal framework: DMCC Act 2024

Material Information has been part of UK consumer law since 2008, but the way it is enforced has changed substantially in 2025.

For most of the past decade, the obligation derived from the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, with practical guidance issued by the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT).  That guidance organised material information into three parts.  Part A covered essential facts such as price, tenure, council tax and EPC rating.  Part B covered the physical characteristics of the property.  Part C covered location and transaction factors such as flood risk, planning history and lease restrictions.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024 and its consumer protection provisions came into force on 6 April 2025.  On 9 May 2025, NTSELAT formally withdrew its Material Information Guidance.

The underlying obligation to disclose material information has not disappeared; if anything, the DMCC Act has strengthened it by treating non-disclosure as automatically an unfair commercial practice.  Although the NTSELAT guidance is formally withdrawn, industry best practice is to continue observing the Parts A, B and C framework until the Competition and Markets Authority or a successor body publishes property-specific replacement guidance.  Professional bodies including the Residential Logbook Association, the Conveyancing Association and Propertymark have all signalled the same position: the practical framework remains, the enforcement regime around it has changed.

What estate agents must disclose

Under the DMCC Act, an estate agent must disclose any information likely to influence the transactional decision of an average consumer.  The Parts A, B and C framework, although now industry best practice rather than formal guidance, remains the most practical way to think about scope.

Part A: financial and contractual essentials.  Asking price, tenure (freehold, leasehold or commonhold), council tax band, ground rent and service charge if leasehold, and length of any remaining lease.

Part B: physical characteristics.  Number and type of rooms, key utilities (water, gas, electricity), broadband availability and speed, type of heating, parking arrangements, and any restrictions on use.

Part C: location and transaction factors.  Flood risk, planning consents and restrictions, building safety information, restrictive covenants, rights of way, and any known disputes affecting the property.

The DMCC Act benchmark goes beyond any particular checklist.  The test is whether the information would be likely to influence a buyer’s decision.  If the answer is yes, the information must be in the listing.

The CMA’s enforcement powers

The most significant practical change introduced by the DMCC Act is the Competition and Markets Authority’s new direct enforcement regime.

Before April 2025, consumer law enforcement against estate agents was led by Trading Standards and required court proceedings to impose financial penalties.  The CMA now has the power to investigate suspected breaches itself, issue infringement notices and impose fines without going to court.

The penalty levels are substantial.  The CMA can impose financial penalties of up to 10 per cent of a company’s global annual turnover, or £300,000, whichever is the greater.  For directors and senior individuals who are accessory to an infringement, the CMA can impose personal fines of up to £300,000.  Criminal sanctions remain available for the most serious or fraudulent breaches, with custodial sentences for the worst cases.

In April 2026, the CMA imposed its first substantive penalty under the new regime: £4.2 million against the AA Driving School and BSM Driving School brands for unlawful drip pricing in their online booking process.  The case was unrelated to property, but it set the tone for how the CMA intends to use its new powers.  The investigation opened in November 2025 and the penalty was imposed five months later.  The AA only received the maximum 40 per cent settlement discount by admitting the breach and engaging constructively throughout.

For estate agents, the practical implication is that enforcement risk is no longer theoretical, and the timeline from investigation to fine is short.

What this means for sellers

Sellers should expect more questions earlier, more documentation requested at the point of listing, and a longer gap between instruction and the property going live.  This is the necessary consequence of agents needing to gather and verify material information before marketing begins.

The benefit, handled properly, is a faster and more certain transaction once an offer is received.  Material information that is available and verified upfront reduces fall-through risk during the conveyancing process, which currently fails roughly one in three UK property transactions.

For sellers using digital tools such as the Home Owners Passport, the upfront information is gathered once and reused throughout the lifecycle of the property, rather than rebuilt each time it changes hands.

What this means for estate agents

For estate agents, the change is operational and commercial.

Operationally, every listing must now be compliant from the moment it goes live.  Missing or incomplete material information is no longer a problem to be fixed at offer stage; it is a regulatory risk from the point of publication.  Compliance processes need to be built into the listing workflow itself, not bolted on afterwards.

Commercially, the agents who handle material information well are gaining a competitive advantage.  Listings that are properly populated with verified data perform better on portals, generate more qualified enquiries and progress to exchange more reliably.  The same upfront information that satisfies the CMA also supports the agent’s commercial proposition to sellers.

This is the principle behind the hop platform for estate agents: material information is collected and verified once at the point of instruction, reused throughout the transaction, and retained as part of the property’s lifetime record.

What this means for conveyancers and lawyers

For conveyancers, the DMCC Act changes the practical landscape rather than the legal duty.  The seller’s solicitor’s duty of disclosure has always existed.  What has changed is the volume and quality of material information that should already be available at the point of instruction.

Where material information has been properly gathered upfront, the conveyancer can focus on the transactional issues that matter.  Where it has not, the conveyancer ends up redoing work that should already have been done, and the transaction slows down.

The Residential Logbook Association, the body that sets standards for digital property records, sits at the heart of this shift.  The hop platform was designed in line with RLBA standards and is one of a small number of platforms holding both Law Society licensing and RLBA membership.

How hop handles Material Information

The Home Owners Passport platform was built specifically to handle material information at scale, in compliance with the DMCC Act 2024 and to the RLBA standard for digital property records.

The platform collects and verifies material information at the point of instruction, presents it in a format that supports both portal listings and the conveyancing process, and retains it as part of the property’s lifetime record.  For estate agents, that means listings compliant from day one.  For lawyers, it means data that is conveyancing grade rather than seller-declared.  For sellers and buyers, it means transactions that complete faster and fall through less often.

Frequently asked questions

What is Material Information?

Material Information is any property fact that could reasonably influence a buyer’s decision to make an offer.  It must be disclosed in the listing itself, not later in the transaction.  Under the DMCC Act 2024, failure to disclose is automatically an unfair commercial practice.

Who enforces Material Information rules in the UK?

Since 6 April 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority has held direct enforcement powers under the DMCC Act 2024.  The CMA can investigate, issue infringement notices and impose fines of up to 10 per cent of global turnover or £300,000, whichever is greater, without going to court.

What are Material Information Parts A, B and C?

Parts A, B and C are the structure originally introduced by the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT).  Part A covers financial and contractual essentials.  Part B covers physical characteristics.  Part C covers location and transaction factors.  Although the NTSELAT guidance was formally withdrawn in May 2025, the Parts A, B and C framework remains industry best practice until replacement guidance is published.

What happens if a property listing omits Material Information?

Under the DMCC Act, omitting material information is automatically an unfair commercial practice.  The CMA can impose fines of up to 10 per cent of global turnover or £300,000, whichever is greater.  Directors can also face personal fines of up to £300,000, and criminal sanctions remain available for the most serious breaches.

Is the NTSELAT Parts A, B and C framework still in force?

The NTSELAT guidance was formally withdrawn on 9 May 2025.  However, industry best practice is to continue observing the Parts A, B and C framework until the CMA or successor body publishes replacement guidance specific to property listings.  The underlying obligation to disclose material information now derives from the DMCC Act 2024.

What is the difference between Material Information and a Home Information Pack?

Home Information Packs were a separate regulatory regime that operated between 2007 and 2010 and were then abolished.  Material Information is the current obligation under UK consumer law to disclose key property facts in the listing itself.  It is a regulatory duty applied to listings, not a standalone document or product.