Letting agents across England are being urged to carry out thorough audits of their websites following the introduction of the first phase of the Renters' Rights Act on 1 May 2026, amid concerns that outdated content is still appearing in search engine results.
The Act represents the most significant change to rental sector legislation in over three decades, and most agents have invested considerable time and resources preparing for it. The compliance risk now, however, lies not in what has been updated but in what has been missed.
Some agency websites still carry legacy content that references Section 21 notices and fixed-term tenancies as though they remain current, which could generate tenant confusion and regulatory complaints.
The issue is partly technical. Even where agents have published new, accurate information on their main web pages, older content can persist in search engine indexes depending on how a website's content management system is configured. That means a prospective tenant searching online could still land on a page containing outdated legal information, regardless of what the live site says.
The problem is compounded by old PDF files stored on web servers. These documents, which may include previous terms and conditions, consumer guides or tenancy information, can remain publicly accessible and indexed by search engines long after they have been removed from a site's active navigation. Fully deleting such files, rather than simply unlinking them, is the only reliable way to ensure they cannot be found.
"The preparation on the lead up to phase one of the Renters' Rights Act coming into force across England has been incredible," said Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark.
"It has required immense dedication and planning to ensure the new legislation has been smoothly implemented, and that agents can fully support landlords and tenants across the transformation. It now remains essential that agencies perform a full set of 'safety net' checks on all available information across all communication channels to ensure compliance.
"A key area of concern is the complexities of how many website content management systems work, and the fact that outdated information remains live and accessible in search engine results.
"To ensure compliance, it is important to fully audit website content and remove not only redundant information on potential physical webpages, but also previous linked PDF files, for example, which now contain either wrong or misleading information, inaccurate terms and conditions and outdated consumer advice."
For agents, the practical takeaway is clear: updating live pages is not enough. A full content audit, covering indexed URLs, cached pages and any downloadable files hosted on the server, is now a necessary step in achieving genuine Renters' Rights Act compliance.
