"Material information is still the biggest opportunity our sector has had in the past decade"
- Ben Ridgway - iamproperty
Consumer support for upfront property information remains strong, according to new research from iamproperty, which reveals that 94% of buyers believe it would significantly improve the moving experience.
The data, collected at a moment of regulatory transition, comes as the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) guidance on material information is withdrawn and its remit shifts to the Competition and Markets Authority under the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2024.
Ben Ridgway (pictured), co-founder at iamproperty, explained: “Material information is still the biggest opportunity our sector has had in the past decade,” he said. “It’s key to building a faster, more secure and better-informed home buying and selling experience. While the recent withdrawal of guidance has created a gap in clarity, the legal obligation remains, as confirmed by the recent letter from the minister Rushanara Ali MP to the NTSELAT Steering Group participants.”
According to Ridgway, the benefits are already clear in the auction space. “For years, we’ve seen how upfront information drives better outcomes,” he continued. “At iamproperty, we see this firsthand in faster completions and fewer fall-throughs in auction, where upfront material information is an essential driver of its 95% completion success rate and ability to deliver completion timescales of 56 days.”
While the sector waits for updated guidance, iamproperty’s findings suggest consumer expectations around transparency are increasing.
Beth Rudolf, director of delivery at the Conveyancing Association, commented on the regulatory gap: “One way or another, new guidance will come,” she said. “And I believe that it is likely to be rooted in the original NTSELAT framework. That’s because it reflects over three years of work by the NTSELAT Guidance Steering Group, the members of which also make up the Digital Property Market Steering Group and the Home Buying and Selling Council Steering Group, and who had a clear consensus on what information the average consumer needs, to make an informed decision when buying and selling.”
Rudolf noted that early missteps in implementation should guide the next phase. “Whilst the clarity of the wording caused issues, in what we can now see as a beta test, we can learn from that to create clear and more succinct case study-based guidance,” she added.
She also pointed to implications for the lettings sector: “Of course, the forthcoming Renters Rights Act means that the lettings guidance will have to wait to be re-written until the act gets Royal Assent because that will change what the average consumer needs to know when letting a property.”
