National Trading Standards - Keeping your property listings compliant

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From 31 May 2022, all estate agent websites and property portals need to start including Part A ‘material information’ on their UK residential property listings and from 30 November 2023, information pertaining to Parts B and C should also be included.

These changes are in line with new guidance set by National Trading Standards, who want to increase clarity for consumers on the properties they’re looking to buy or rent.

‘Material information’ is defined as the information an average consumer needs to make an informed transactional decision. National Trading Standards state that in the case of buying or renting a property, a ‘transactional decision’ includes the decision to view a property, as well as the decision to buy or rent one.

Full National Trading Standards Material Information guidance is available here

This article includes:

What needs to be included in property listings under the guidance?

The guidance has been introduced in three stages, referred to as Part A, Part B and Part C.

The list below shows the information that needs to be provided where applicable to comply with the guidelines. 

Part A

Specific fields are available on Zoopla to display this information. If your upload method does not yet support these fields, please include this information in the Full description field for your property. 

Sales

  • Sale Price (£)
  • Council tax band (England, Wales and Scotland)
  • Tenure (freehold, leasehold, share of freehold, commonhold, feudal, non-traditional*)
  • Length of lease (years remaining)
  • Annual ground rent amount (£)
  • Ground rent review period (year/month)
  • Ground rent review date (date of next review)
  • Annual service charge amount (£)
  • Service charge frequency (# of months/years)
  • Shared Ownership (% share being sold)
  • EPC rating

Lettings

  • Price - rent (£)
  • Council tax band (England, Wales and Scotland)
  • Deposit (£)
  • EPC rating
  • Letting arrangements (free text)

(*non-traditional should only be used for properties with non standard tenures such as Park homes and Houseboats)

Part B

Specific fields are available on Zoopla to display the majority of this information. If your upload method does not yet support these fields, please include this information in the Full description field for your property. 

Sales & Lettings 

  • Physical Characteristics
    • Property Type* (e.g. detached, semi detached, terrace, studio, flat, maisonette)
    • Construction materials
  • Room information
    • Number* (# for each room type)
    • Size 
    • Type* (bed, bath, reception)
  • Utilities
    • Electricity supply
    • Water supply
    • Sewerage
    • Heating
    • Broadband
    • Broadband speed
    • Mobile signal/coverage
  • Parking* (e.g. single garage, underground parking, on street/residents parking)

(* specific fields are already available)

Part C

Information on Part C only needs to be included if a property is affected by an issue.

Specific fields are available on Zoopla to display the majority of this information. If your upload method does not yet support these fields, please include this information in the Full description field for your property where it is relevant. 

Sales & Lettings

  • Building Safety
  • Restrictions & Rights
    • Restrictions
    • Rights & Easements
  • Flood/erosion risk
    • Flood risk
    • Coastal erosion risk
  • Planning Permission or proposal for development
    • Outstanding building works
    • Planning permission or proposal for development
  • Property accessibility/adaptations
    • Step-free access
    • Wet room/level access shower
    • Lateral living
  • Coalfield or mining area

(Full information on each stage is available here)

Adding/updating property listings

Estate agents are responsible for submitting material information on all new and existing UK residential property listings. You’ll need to include it along with the property listings information you already share with us.

Note

If information is missing, National Trading Standards may get in touch with you if your listings don’t comply with the new guidance

I'm a ZooplaPro user

If you manually upload listings, you can use the dedicated fields to provide the majority of ‘Part A, B & C' information on your listings, which can be found on the Add residential property page (via Add listing) and the Edit residential property page.

Any remaining required information can be added into the Full description field. 

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To update your listings to stay compliant, please see the following articles:

I'm an Alto user

Head to the Alto Help Centre to find out more about the changes and what you need to do to stay compliant.

I'm an Expert Agent user

Head to the Expert Agent learning centre to find out more about the changes and what you need to do to stay compliant.

My CRM provider uses your real time listings API

We've recently updated our API to ensure it's compliant with Parts A, B & C.

Any information your feed provider doesn't have fields for, or is currently unable to send, should be added into the Full description field for your property. 

FAQs

We’ve also pulled together a list of frequently asked questions to help you get to grips with the new requirements:

  • What other changes are in the pipeline?

We're not aware of any further changes at the moment but we'll update you if that changes.  

  • What if I don’t have all the material information yet? Can I still list a property?

National Trading Standards requires all information to be available from 30th November 2023. While we don't have any plans to de-list properties, National Trading Standards may get in touch with you if your listings don't comply with the new guidance.

  • Will Zoopla de-list my property if any information is missing?

We don’t have any plans to de-list properties, but National Trading Standards may get in touch with you if your listings don’t comply with the new guidance.

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