Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by Property Industry Eye. Read the original article for full details. Many UK teams now handle this with dedicated property inventory software.

Renters’ Rights Act Prompts Website Compliance Reviews for Letting Agents

Letting agents across England are being urged to review all published consumer information, legal statements, and terms and conditions on their websites following the introduction of the first phase of the Renters’ Rights Act at the start of this month. The Act represents a significant change to rental legislation in England and has required substantial preparation to achieve compliance.

Agents are being warned that outdated information may still be accessible or indexed in search engine results due to the way some content management systems store legacy pages. While updated content may be live on main website pages, older material can still appear in search results, creating a risk that incorrect or inconsistent information remains publicly accessible. This could potentially leave agents exposed to compliance issues under the new legislative framework.

The compliance challenge is not limited to live webpages. Outdated information can also remain within older PDF files stored on web servers, which may still be accessible or indexed by search engines even if they are no longer linked through the main site. Agencies are therefore required to review and either delete or restrict access to obsolete documents to ensure they are no longer publicly available.

There is also a risk that some agencies continue to hold documents referencing abolished or changed tenancy concepts, such as Section 21 or fixed-term tenancies, in a way that implies they remain current. If such documents are left online or indexed, this can lead to inconsistency in information available to clients and may result in confusion or complaints.

Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, highlighted the importance of agencies performing comprehensive checks on all available information across all communication channels to ensure compliance. He noted the complexities of website content management systems and the need to audit not only webpages but also linked PDF files containing outdated or misleading information.