What Estate Agents MUST Disclose to Buyers (UK)

Read almost any three articles about what estate agents have to tell buyers, and I’d wager that they all quote the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

Those regulations were repealed on 6 April 2025.

What replaced them is stricter, not softer. But the official guidance that told agents exactly what to put on a listing was withdrawn at the same time, leaving a sort of hole the government is still trying to fill.

I’ve been buying houses directly from owners since 2005, and reselling them through agents once they’re refurbished, so I see both ends of a listing.

Below, we’ll cover what agents must tell you now, what they never have to, what sellers are on the hook for under the new TA6, and what to do if something was hidden.

This covers England and Wales. Scotland runs a different system (Home Report, offers through solicitors).

What estate agents must legally tell buyers in 2026

An estate agent must not give you false or misleading information about a property, and must not leave out “material information” you’d need to make a decision. Since 6 April 2025 that duty sits under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

On top of that, they must:

• Disclose any personal interest they, or a connected person, has in the property

• Pass every offer to the seller, promptly and in writing

• Treat buyers without favouritism or discrimination

• Tell you which redress scheme they belong to

What they do not have to do: guarantee the property’s condition, tell you what other buyers have offered, or do your due diligence for you.

That last line is the one that costs people money.

The law changed on 6 April 2025 (and most advice online hasn’t caught up)

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024. Part 4, Chapter 1 came into force on 6 April 2025 and repealed the CPRs 2008 outright.

Enforcement moved to the Competition and Markets Authority, which can now fine businesses directly without going through a court (Propertymark, 2025).

And the test got tougher. Under the old regulations, an omission only counted against the agent if it would have affected your “transactional decision”. Under the DMCC Act, omitting material information is automatically an unfair commercial practice. No arguing about whether it would have changed your mind.

Conduct before 6 April 2025 can still be pursued under the old CPRs, which matters if your purchase ran through 2024.

There’s a catch, though. National Trading Standards’ Material Information Guidance (Parts A, B and C) was quietly withdrawn, because the law it hung off no longer exists. The duty got stricter. The rulebook explaining how to satisfy it went in the bin.

Two other DMCCA changes are hitting agents right now: Drip pricing is banned (the full price, including any mandatory charge, must be shown upfront, with optional extras clearly separated), and fake or incentivised reviews are prohibited.

The timing rule most buyers don’t know about

Material information has to be given during or prior to any “invitation to purchase”.

In practice, that means the listing. Not the viewing, not the memorandum of sale, not a phone call three weeks after your offer was accepted.

It must be “clear, intelligible and in a timely manner”. Burying it, or drip-feeding it once you’re emotionally committed, is a misleading omission and unlawful. As the government put it, a listing “should not omit information… that could lead the purchaser to rule out the property if it is revealed at a later stage” (MHCLG, 2025).

Under the Act, some information is always treated as material: the main characteristics of what’s being sold, the trader’s identity and geographical address, the total price including taxes (or how to calculate it), any additional optional charges, payment and performance arrangements, the complaint-handling policy, and any cancellation or withdrawal rights (MHCLG, 2025).

The checklist: what should be on a listing before you book a viewing

Parts A, B and C are no longer official guidance. But they remain the clearest benchmark of what a compliant listing looks like, and the portals still carry the fields.

If these are missing, that’s your first red flag.

Part A: required on every listing since 2022

• Council tax band and the annual rate

• The asking price, presented honestly (no “offers over” games that obscure the real number, and drip pricing is now separately unlawful)

• Tenure: freehold, leasehold or share of freehold

Part B: required for all properties

• Property type and construction materials

• Number and type of rooms, with accurate floor plans and dimensions

• Utilities and services: electricity, water (mains or not), gas, heating, broadband and mobile signal

• Parking arrangements

Part C: required wherever it applies

• Flood risk, flood zone status and any history of flooding at the property

• Restrictive covenants

• Building safety matters: cladding, EWS1, remediation

• Leasehold detail: years remaining, ground rent, service charges, and any unusual lease conditions

• Reservation fees, especially on new builds (these now sit squarely inside the drip-pricing rules)

• Listed building status and conservation area designation

• Known structural defects

• Planning permission issues, missing consents, and any alterations or extensions carried out

• Boundary uncertainty, boundary disputes and property-related disputes with neighbours

• Shared access, rights of way and informal arrangements

• Nearby development or construction plans affecting value or enjoyment

• Ongoing legal proceedings involving the property

• What’s included in the sale: fixtures and fittings

Descriptions and photos must not exaggerate either. One agency was sanctioned over a “partial sea view” that turned out to be visible from a single spot in one room.

RICS makes the point I’d make: material information is no substitute for professional advice, and agents are not conveyancers or surveyors (RICS, 2023). Treat agent-supplied data on building safety and technical matters with caution.

The uncomfortable numbers

Only around 35% of listings contain adequate information, and around 10% don’t even include the basics like costs and tenure type, according to National Trading Standards data quoted by government (MHCLG, 2025).

The same consultation says some agents “knowingly disregard their responsibilities regarding material information as they believe requesting this information could deter sellers from listing their property with them.”

I see the softer version of that every time we resell a refurbished property. We take two or three agent appraisals as a matter of course, and the gap between what an agent asks will go on the listing.

Chase the listing detail yourself. Read your own advert like a buyer would.

What agents must disclose about themselves

The agent works for the seller and is paid by the seller. Everything in this section exists to stop that relationship harming you.

Personal interest

Under section 21 of the Estate Agents Act 1979, an agent must disclose promptly and in writing any personal interest in the property, including where they or a “connected person” has, or is seeking, a beneficial interest in the land or the sale proceeds.

“Connected person” is drawn widely: an employer or principal, any employee or agent, or any associate of theirs. If the agent, their partner or a member of staff is the buyer, you must be told.

Fees, commissions and referral arrangements

Any referral fee for a solicitor, broker, surveyor or removals firm is a conflict of interest and must be disclosed.

For context on the money involved: agent commission currently typically runs 1% to 2% plus VAT, with flat minimum fees on lower-value properties that push the effective percentage up. It’s always negotiable, and a referral fee sitting on top of it is money someone in the transaction is funding (usually the seller).

Redress scheme membership

Every agent must belong to The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme under the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007, and must tell you which (LEASE).

No scheme membership means the agent is operating unlawfully, and trading standards can fine them, with the penalty commonly cited at up to £5,000 per office. The TPO Code of Practice for Residential Estate Agents sits on top of the statutory duties, and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 provides a further backstop on the quality of services.

Conduct, communication and your money

The agent must act on the seller’s instructions, but must also keep the buyer updated on the status of an offer, without high-pressure tactics to rush you and without favouring one buyer over another.

Any money the agent holds, including reservation deposits, must go into a client account with a receipt. Get written confirmation of what the payment is for and whether it’s refundable, before you part with it.

Offers: what agents must tell you, and what they can keep quiet

Every offer must go to the seller, in writing, promptly. “Promptly” is defined in the Estate Agents (Undesirable Practices) (No. 2) Order 1991 as within as short a period as is reasonably practicable from the moment it can reasonably be done.

That applies to conditional offers, and it continues until contracts are exchanged. An offer must still be passed on, even after another has been accepted.

So no, an agent cannot ignore an offer from an interested party, or refuse to put it forward.

Does an estate agent have to disclose offers to other buyers?

No. There’s no legal duty to tell competing buyers what anyone else has bid, or even how many offers exist.

What they must not do, under Schedule 3 of the 1991 Order, is knowingly or recklessly misrepresent, orally or in writing, the existence of or details relating to any offer, or the existence or status of any prospective purchaser.

In plain English: they can’t invent a rival bid, inflate a real one, or falsely tell you the other buyer is chain-free, cash or mortgage-approved to push you higher.

Sealed bids and best-and-finals are legitimate. Fabricated competition isn’t. buyers should ask for the position in writing, because written misrepresentation is far easier to evidence.

Can you accept an offer on a house but keep it on the market?

Yes, in England and Wales. Nothing binds either side until exchange, and gazumping is lawful.

The agent must keep passing offers on right up to exchange, and must not mislead you about the property’s status. If you’re the buyer, ask for the listing to be marked Sold STC or Under Offer, get that confirmed in writing, and consider a lock-out or reservation agreement.

Conditional selling: the disclosure problem nobody else is writing about

Conditional selling is where an agent pressures you into using its recommended solicitor, in-house mortgage broker or insurance provider as a condition of your offer being accepted or passed on.

It’s prohibited under TPO’s Codes of Practice, and The Property Ombudsman published new consumer guidance in January 2026 to help buyers spot it, following the BBC Panorama documentary Undercover Estate Agent.

The statutory hook is Schedule 2 of the 1991 Order, which declares undesirable “discrimination against a prospective purchaser by an estate agent on the grounds that that purchaser will not be, or is unlikely to be, accepting services.” Enforcement authorities can issue a warning or a prohibition order.

Schedule 2 also carries the transparency mechanism: where a buyer has applied for the agent’s services, the agent must forward to the seller, promptly and in writing, an accurate list of those services, at every stage before exchange. The seller is meant to be able to see the agent’s financial interest in a particular buyer.

Where’s the line? An agent is entitled to verify a buyer’s funding and ask for proof of funds.

What they cannot do is make your offer conditional on buying their services.

You choose your own broker, insurer and solicitor, and every offer must be passed on regardless.

On the solicitor point, my advice is the same whoever recommends them: use a good local solicitor, not a large nationwide conveyancing firm. The big ones are often incredibly slow, especially the big cheap ones, and it’s luck of the draw who handles your file. A slow, unresponsive solicitor can kill a deal.

If you don’t know one, ask friends who’ve sold recently. Were they impressed? Was the solicitor proactive? That tells you most of what you need. Agents have become far more cautious about recommending solicitors since the documentary, and they should not be forcing one on you.

We cover the seller’s legal fees when they use our recommended firm, and I’ll be straight about that: it’s an independent, established practice, never in-house, and sellers who prefer their own solicitor are free to use them.

The same disclosure failings exist outside estate agency

If a quick-sale house buying company offers you more than 85% of your property’s value, that isn’t a genuine cash offer. Once you factor in stamp duty and the costs of buying, the maths simply doesn’t work, so such offers can’t be genuine.

Some of those firms sell your lead on to genuine buyers. Others put your property straight to market at a reduced price, to quickly find a buyer, without buying it directly, which leaves an electronic footprint that can drag your value down.

We’ve had several cases recently where sellers came to us after being burned by other cash house buying companies. The sellers hadn’t realised their property had been marketed, when they were lead to believe that it was getting bought directly by the house buying company.

Then comes the infamous price chip at the last minute, when you’re at your most vulnerable. A tactic that some house buying companies use after over promising a higher price.

If you sell to a cash house buying company, always ask who is actually buying, and whether they hold the funds. Push them to get the survey done as soon as possible and formal contractual offer signed, that the house buying company can’t back out of.

If you’re interested in a fast cash sale, we are a legitimate cash house buying company, with funds ready. We can buy directly from you, and complete a sale within 14 – 28 days. Get in touch with us for a fast cash sale.

What estate agents do NOT have to tell you

This is where most buyers’ mental model needs correcting.

Caveat emptor still governs condition in England and Wales. The seller has no general duty to point out defects, and the agent isn’t a surveyor. Damp, subsidence, dodgy wiring, a failing roof: nobody is obliged to volunteer it unless it’s known, material, or you’ve asked directly.

They also don’t have to tell you what other buyers offered, anything they genuinely don’t know, or their private opinion. “Lovely area” is fluff, not a factual claim.

So what actually protects you?

A proper survey (not the lender’s valuation), full local authority and environmental searches, and a good local solicitor asking awkward questions. Around 27% of all failed sales collapse because the buyer pulled out or couldn’t renegotiate after a survey, making it the single biggest cause of collapse (Letting Agent Today, 2025).

Non-disclosure doesn’t work most of the time. Buyers find out. Everyone wastes time and money.

One seller came to us after 50 viewings and zero offers in two months. The agent’s feedback was always about the amount of work needed, and plenty of viewers simply never rang back.

When I visited, the real issue came out: a noisy neighbour was also leaving rubbish outside. Nobody had to volunteer that. Buyers saw it and heard at the viewing and walked.

We bought the property, had a polite word with the neighbour, came to an agreement, arranged the clearance and made it presentable. It went under offer quickly after that.

Convert “no duty to volunteer” into “duty to answer honestly” by asking. Before you offer, ask about previous offers and why they fell through, time on the market, reason for selling, the property’s history, planned development nearby, tenure and any charges. Then ask for the answers by email.

What sellers must disclose in 2026: the TA6 6th edition

Agents disclose to buyers, but most of the real disclosure comes from the seller, through their solicitor, after an offer is accepted.

The TA6 Property Information Form (6th edition) replaced the 4th and 5th editions on 30 March 2026 and is mandatory for firms accredited under the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. An updated TA7 leasehold form goes with it.

After a contested consultation, the Law Society landed on a two-form approach: the new TA6 for use once an offer is accepted, plus a separate, non-mandatory material information form for conveyancers instructed before listing.

What changed: 15 sections instead of 25, questions reframed as “Are you aware…” rather than demanding certainty, and sellers can legitimately answer “not known”, with improved explanatory notes published in October 2025.

It covers boundaries, disputes and complaints with neighbours, notices, alterations and consents, guarantees and warranties, flooding, environmental matters including Japanese knotweed, rights and informal arrangements such as shared access, services and utilities, occupiers, and fixtures and fittings via the TA10.

The line between “don’t volunteer negatives” and lying

My honest advice to sellers is: don’t volunteer negatives.

You’re not required to narrate everything you dislike about your own house. Telling a viewer the road keeps you awake, or that you’ve had loads of viewings and no offers, plants a doubt they didn’t have and invites a price chip. People want what other people want. If you haven’t got anything positive to say, say nothing.

Same principle applies to the agent. Don’t reveal your absolute price floor, your sale deadline or your reasons for moving in detail.

Buyers, don’t reveal your price ceiling.

But that stops dead at the TA6.

Once a question is asked, you answer it honestly and completely. A knowingly false or misleading answer that the buyer relies on can found a misrepresentation claim after completion, with damages or, rarely, rescission.

That’s the whole line in one sentence: silence on opinion is fine, a false answer on a form is not.

Why late disclosure always costs more: the knotweed case

One of our clients had a property that previously had Japanese knotweed. It had been through the full treatment plan and there was no visible sign of it. The property went under offer quickly.

While the buyer’s survey was being carried out, a contractor from the knotweed treatment company happened to be there doing a follow-up check, because a nodule had reappeared in a neighbouring garden.

The surveyor spotted “Japanese knotweed” written on his uniform and asked what he was doing.

That’s how the buyers found out.

They tried to chip thousands off the price at the last minute, with all the leverage. Rather than be beaten down, the seller came to us.

The cost of finding out late is always higher than the cost of disclosing early. Government-cited industry trials suggest getting key information available earlier speeds transactions up by four weeks (MHCLG, 2025).

What buyers have to disclose too

It runs both ways. Proof of funds and source of funds are legitimate requests under anti-money-laundering rules, from both the agent and your solicitor.

Be honest about your position: cash or mortgage, chain or chain-free, your timescale and your intentions. Lying to win an offer tends to collapse the sale later, and can cost you the property.

What happens if something wasn’t disclosed

Be realistic about this ladder. The higher rungs are slow and rarely lucrative.

• Step 1: complain to the agent in writing. Use their internal complaints procedure and put everything in writing. You normally have to exhaust it (usually up to 8 weeks) before the Ombudsman will look at your case. Gather evidence now: listing screenshots including the material information fields, the full brochure, emails, texts, viewing notes, and written confirmation of anything you were told verbally.

• Step 2: escalate to TPO or the Property Redress Scheme. Free and impartial. Compensation is capped at £25,000 by both schemes, but real awards are far smaller: TPO’s average payout has been reported at roughly £300 to £600 (Unbiased). Awards are binding on the agent, but you must accept in full and final settlement, which closes off court action. Think before you accept. And note the limit: redress schemes deal with the agent’s service failings only, not a seller’s misrepresentation.

• Step 3: report it to the enforcers. Local authority trading standards, the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team and the CMA all have a role. NTSELAT can issue warning or prohibition orders banning someone from estate agency work, and the CMA can now act directly without a court process. Criminal exposure exists in serious cases, including custodial sentences. You can also report an agent to a membership body such as Propertymark or RICS, but those are professional bodies, not redress schemes.

• Step 4: a misrepresentation claim. This is a court route against the seller, run by your solicitor. Remedies are damages and, in severe cases, rescission of the contract, though rescission is rare and hard to get once you’ve completed and moved in. Weigh the cost, the time, and whether you have evidence of the seller’s false statement you actually relied on.

Prevention beats redress. Those £300 to £600 numbers are exactly why a RICs survey is the better investment.

What’s changing next

The government ran a consultation, “Material information in property listings”, from 6 October to 29 December 2025, and intends to publish new official guidance on what counts as material information in residential listings, filling the hole left when Parts A, B and C were withdrawn (MHCLG, 2025).

Why the urgency? Government figures put the average time from offer accepted to completion at around 120 days, far longer than it took two decades ago, and estimate that roughly 1 in 3 transactions fail, at a cost to buyers and sellers of around £400m a year (MHCLG, 2025). Industry trackers, all measure fall-throughs differently, but based on our own experience in reselling properties, it’s averaged about 33% over the past 5 years.

It runs alongside the wider home buying and selling reform consultation: clearer legal requirements for upfront information, mandatory qualifications for estate agents, and better data accessibility.

My take? Upfront information is the right direction. Most of the fall-throughs I see aren’t caused by bad buyers. They’re caused by information arriving three months too late.

When the disclosure problem is on your side of the table

Here’s the scenario I get called about roughly 100 times a month: you’re the seller, something material has surfaced (knotweed, a short lease, a building safety issue, a dispute), your buyer has walked, and now you have to disclose it to everyone who comes after them.

We buy directly for cash, so there’s no chain and no agent, and we underwrite the problem rather than renegotiate around it. Cash offer within 24 hours, exchange typically in 2 – 3 weeks but we can do as little as 48 hours in extreme cases, completion typically 28 days. We cover the legal fees when you use our recommended independent solicitor. Because of our Sale and Rent Back service, we’re one of the only cash house buying companies in the UK that’s regulated by the FCA.

The trade-off, stated plainly: we pay below market value, typically 75% to 85%. You’re getting speed and certainty.

And the honest caveat. If you’re not under time pressure, a cash house buyer sale probably isn’t right for you. Work out the absolute latest date you need to be out by. If you can wait five or six months, fix the disclosure issue, price it in and sell through an agent.

If the property has to be gone, that’s when a cash house buyer like us can help.

FAQs

Do estate agents have to tell you about problem neighbours?

Not proactively, unless the issue is known and material. But if you ask, the answer has to be honest, and the seller must answer the TA6 questions on disputes and complaints truthfully. Ask the question by email so you have the answer in writing.

Can an estate agent refuse to pass on my offer?

No. Every offer must go to the seller promptly and in writing, and that duty continues right up until contracts are exchanged, even after another offer has been accepted.

Do I have to use the estate agent’s solicitor or mortgage broker?

No. You’re free to choose your own. Making your offer conditional on using their services is conditional selling, which is prohibited under TPO’s Codes of Practice. Verifying your proof of funds, though, is perfectly legitimate.

Does the same law apply in Scotland?

No. Scotland uses the Home Report and offers go through solicitors. This guide covers England and Wales.

What’s the most common reason a property fails to sell?

Price, in the vast majority of cases, followed by an undisclosed issue that buyers work out for themselves at the viewing.

This article explains how property disclosure works in England and Wales as at 2026. It is general information, not legal advice. If you think a material fact was hidden from you, or you are unsure how to answer a question on the TA6, speak to a solicitor about your specific circumstances.