Mandatory Property Disclosure in 2026: What Agents Must Tell You

For decades, the English property market operated on the principle of caveat emptor—buyer beware. A listing could legally omit critical facts like a high flood risk or a dangerously short lease, leaving buyers to discover these deal-breakers weeks into the legal process. That landscape has changed significantly. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 came into force on 6 April 2025 and is now the governing framework for property disclosure. While this transparency is a step forward for consumers, a savvy buyer must understand exactly what is required, what is voluntary, and where the “data gaps” still exist.

The Regulatory Framework in 2026

Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which came into force on 6 April 2025¹, omitting material information from a property listing is automatically treated as an unfair commercial practice. The Competition and Markets Authority enforces this regime. The earlier NTSELAT Parts A, B and C guidance was withdrawn on 8 May 2025, though the underlying disclosure duty continues under the DMCC Act.

For you as a buyer, this means that the “basic facts” of a property should now be visible before you even book a viewing. This shift is designed to reduce the number of transactions that fall through at the eleventh hour due to previously “hidden” information.

What Agents Are Expected to Disclose on Every Listing

Under the DMCC Act 2024, agents must not omit “material information” from listings. The categories of information that are generally expected to be disclosed include:

1. The Legal Basics (Part A)

• Council Tax: The band and the local authority.
• Price: The asking price (or “offers in excess of”).
• Tenure: Whether the property is freehold or leasehold, including ground rent and service charges for the latter.

2. Physical Characteristics (Part B)

• Utilities: Status of mains water, electricity, and sewerage.
• Broadband and Mobile: Availability and type of connection (e.g., FTTP, FTTC).
• Parking: Availability and any associated costs or restrictions.

3. Material Constraints (Part C)

• Flood Risk: Whether the property is in a flood-prone area.
• Building Safety: Issues like cladding, asbestos, or known structural defects.
• Restrictions and Covenants: Rights of way, listed status, or restrictive covenants that affect use.

The Floor, Not the Ceiling: Limitations of Disclosure

While the DMCC Act disclosure duty is a significant improvement, the disclosure is often binary in practice. An agent might disclose that a property is “at risk of flooding,” but they are not required to specify whether it is in Flood Zone 2 or 3, or whether the risk comes from a river or surface water.

Similarly, a listing may state that “broadband is available,” but it won’t tell you if the actual speed in that postcode is a glacial 10 Mbps or a lightning-fast 1 Gbps. The agent’s duty is to disclose the presence of a factor, not to provide a detailed analysis of its impact on your lifestyle.

What Remains Outside the Scope

There are several critical datasets that agents are not required to disclose, simply because the data is held by other government bodies:

• School Performance: Ofsted ratings and catchment pressure are not part of the mandatory listing. You must check school performance and proximity independently.
• Crime Rates: Local crime statistics from Police.uk are excluded from the mandate.
• Air Quality: DEFRA air quality monitoring data is not a listing requirement.
• EPC Future-Proofing: The current EPC band is required on a listing, but its forward implications are not. Note that the headline “EPC C by 2030” target is a private-rented-sector obligation — under the government’s 2025 response on rented-home energy performance, landlords must reach EPC C for all tenancies by 1 October 2030² — not a requirement on owner-occupiers buying a home to live in. Separately, the EPC itself is being reformed: the government’s 21 January 2026 response confirmed the single rating will be replaced by four headline metrics — energy cost, fabric performance, heating system and smart readiness³. That response originally aimed to introduce the new-style certificates from October 2026, but a follow-up announcement on 9 March 2026 pushed the launch back to the second half of 2027⁴.

How to Verify a 2026 Listing

A compliant listing is your starting point, not your final word. To move from being an “interested browser” to an “informed buyer,” you should cross-reference every listing with independent data.

Home-Checker’s Property Report is designed specifically to fill the gaps left by mandatory disclosure. We pull the Environment Agency flood zones, Ofsted data, Police.uk crime rates, and HM Land Registry market context into a single document.

Run a Property Report for any English address to see what the listing isn’t telling you.

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Methodology Note

This guide reflects the disclosure framework in force from 6 April 2025 under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority. The NTSELAT Parts A, B and C guidance was withdrawn on 8 May 2025; the underlying duty to disclose material information continues under the DMCC Act. Data on school performance and crime is sourced from DfE and Home Office datasets respectively. EPC reporting reflects the EPC methodology.

Home-Checker is not a legal service and does not replace formal conveyancing searches or legal advice.

Footnotes

1. The DMCC Act 2024 unfair-commercial-practices provisions commenced on 6 April 2025 (SI 2025/272); the NTSELAT Parts A–C material-information guidance was withdrawn on 8 May 2025, with the disclosure duty continuing under the Act and enforcement passing to the CMA. ↩

2. “Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes — government response”, gov.uk (2025). The earlier “new tenancies by 2028” milestone was dropped in favour of a single 1 October 2030 compliance date, with a £10,000 per-property cost cap. ↩

3. “Reforms to the Energy Performance of Buildings regime — partial government response”, gov.uk, 21 January 2026. This response confirmed the four-metric replacement and originally aimed to introduce the new-style certificates from October 2026. ↩

4. On 9 March 2026 the government confirmed the launch of the reformed HEM-based EPCs would be delayed from October 2026 to the second half of 2027, with the exact date to be agreed by summer 2026. The October 2030 PRS MEES deadline was unaffected. ↩