Portals and agents ‘failing consumers’ with lack of property information

Estate agents and property portals are failing to highlight issues to home movers which could have an impact on their decision to withdraw from a property purchase. 

Against a backdrop of fall through rates around one in three properties, property advice website HomeOwners Alliance reviewed 150 leasehold property listings on Rightmove, Zoopla, and OnTheMarket in London and Manchester to understand whether property listings comply with guidance published by the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) on up-front and material information; information which would impact an average consumer’s buying decision.

The results have been published in a new report ‘What Buyers Need to Know’  which criticises estate agents and property portals for failing to provide ‘deal-breaking’ information to consumers which ultimately ‘leads to sales falling through (and) poor outcomes for buyers, sellers and their agents.‘

One in twenty listings still fails to identify the tenure of the property, despite this being a mandatory element of the NTSELAT guidance; only one third of listings outline service charges, and less than half (49%) include details of ground rent. Comparisons with similar research in 2016 show significant improvements in the information provided around the number of years left on a lease, with 78% of listings including this information in this latest report.

Part A of the NTSELAT guidance outlines to requirement to include council tax banding information, which according to this latest research is only shown on 66% of listings; and when split by the two geographics showed higher non-compliance in London (55% of listings) than in Manchester (77% of listings).

Despite being a legal requirement, nearly one quarter of listings did not include Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating; and given the challenges around the Building Safety Act just 5% of listings included details about accessibility and restrictions on the property and 20% of listings made reference to having an EWS1 certificate.

Commenting on the findings, Paula Higgins CEO of HomeOwners Alliance says:

“We know location, price and parking are up there as the top things people look for when buying a home. But very quickly after that we want to know about any potential deal-breakers: Is it a flat with only a few years left on the lease or sky high service charges? Is there cladding which means we’ll struggle to get a mortgage and could face unfair costs? Is there a poor energy rating that means the house costs double what it should to run?” 

“So the industry’s move to do more in providing information that could materially impact our decision to buy a home is very welcome. But a year on, the picture is still patchy and simply not good enough. Homeowners shouldn’t have to wait until they are three months down the line, have spent hundreds on legal fees and surveys, to find the ground rent is due to double, the house will cost more to heat than their current home, and they can’t get a mortgage because of cladding.”

Zoopla and OnTheMarket outperformed Rightmove when it came to the detail on the listings, with 86% of Zoopla’s listings and 78% of OnTheMarket listings including the number of years remaining on the lease, compared with 70% on Rightmove.

The research raises questions about who will enforce the requirements outlined by the NTSELAT guidance. In September last year Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket told estate agency news portal The Negotiator they would not take disciplinary action again estate agents who fail to comply with providing material information, but would instead take a more ‘supportive‘ role.