As of May 8th 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2024 has replaced the bespoke ‘material information’ guidance previously issued under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
Effective immediately, all previous guidance has been withdrawn, leaving estate and lettings agents to comply directly with the unfair-practice provisions of the DMCC Act rather than the previous, property-specific rules.
This sudden change in legislation and ‘removal’ of property-specific guidance has left agents and industry commentators confused about what is actually expected of them going forward.
To clarify: from a practical standpoint, nothing has fundamentally changed. The responsibility to collect and provide material information remains firmly in place under the DMCC. Notably, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) now has direct enforcement powers under the new Act, including the ability to impose fines and take action without court proceedings — significantly increasing the risk of non-compliance.
Comments from industry leaders
While the Competition and Markets Authority has published general guidance on unfair commercial practices, stakeholders across the board are calling for tailored rules or illustrative examples to clarify what counts as “material” for property listings.
“In in theory, everything has changed. In practice? Nothing has.”, says Toby Martin (Toby Martin Consultancy & Training) in The Negotiator, agents are still legally obliged to disclose material information.
In recent years, agents have been working with a fairly narrow guidance, he continues, “Part A, Part B, Part C – it was essentially a checklist. Now, the baton has been passed to the DMCC, which introduces a broad requirement not to omit “material information” – defined in the Act as anything that could affect a consumer’s “transactional decision.”
Propertymark’s CEO Nathan Emerson warns that, “for legislation to be superseded in less than two years … with limited sector guidance for both consumers and practitioners, this could cause considerable confusion.”
This confusion is incredibly concerning as agents now face higher penalties under the DMCC Act for any failures to disclose material information.
However, David Smith, a leading property litigation specialist, argues there’s “no need to panic”—the old guidance was “poor” and “confusing,” and the DMCC Act effectively codifies the same duties to act fairly and not mislead consumers. He advises that “if something might be material, then the safest course is to make that information available,” noting that most agents already know what buyers need to see.
Advice for agents
Comment from Dezrez Group MD, Richard Price:
In the absence of updated guidance, we believe the CMA is likely to rely more on case law to set precedents. Therefore, we recommend that you continue following best practice: collect material information using the Dezrez Material Information Form and ensure that all marketing materials, property listings and adverts accurately reflect the information provided by your client.
Please also remember that your obligations under Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations remain unchanged, as are the very real commercial and client benefits of preparing all your vendors for the legal process as early as possible. Following today’s announcement, we believe the MarketReady service is even more important for agents and their vendors.
Following this announcement, we believe the Dezrez MarketReady service, which removes the headache of material information and AML compliance for our users, is even more important for agents and their vendors.
Want to ensure you’re fully compliant? Get MarketReady:
