Website legal requirements · for estate agents
What an estate agent’s website must show.
For agents selling homes. Letting agents have their own rules.
An estate agent doing residential sales work must belong to an approved redress scheme; that is the law. Members of The Property Ombudsman (TPO) must also put TPO’s name and website address on their website, show its logo there, and show fees including VAT with a statement saying so. The National Trading Standards “material information” guidance from 2023 was withdrawn after a judicial review, so it isn’t a checklist you must follow.
Chris Painter, founder of ThemeSmith · checked 28 October 2026 · every rule links to its source
The rules for estate agents
What the rules ask of your website.
Belong to an approved redress scheme.
Every person who does relevant estate agency work must be a member of an approved redress scheme, such as The Property Ombudsman. The law asks you to join; what you show on the site comes from the scheme’s rules.
Law · England · Estate Agents (Redress Scheme) Order 2008, article 2
TPO members: its name, website address and logo on your site.
TPO’s Code of Practice for Residential Estate Agents says members must include TPO’s name and website address on their website, in their terms of business and in other contracts with consumers, and must display the TPO logo prominently on their website(s), in office windows, on letterheads and in marketing. Members of another approved scheme follow that scheme’s own code.
Scheme rule · England, Wales and Northern Ireland · The Property Ombudsman, Code of Practice for Residential Estate Agents, paragraphs 1k and 1l
TPO members: fees with VAT, and say so.
Fees must be shown inclusive of VAT, alongside a statement confirming that VAT is included.
Scheme rule · England, Wales and Northern Ireland · The Property Ombudsman, Code of Practice for Residential Estate Agents, paragraph 3c
Not on the list
What the rules don’t ask for.
The 2023 material information checklist, as law.
National Trading Standards withdrew its material information guidance for property listings after a judicial review, and government has consulted on new guidance. Leaving out information a buyer needs can still be a misleading omission under consumer law, so keep listings complete; just don’t treat the old checklist as the rule.
The three rules every business has still apply.
A price shown to the public includes VAT; a limited company shows its registered name, number and office; a site that takes enquiries says how it will use them. What every UK business website must show.
Questions
What estate agents ask.
Does an estate agent have to show its redress scheme on its website?
The law requires membership of an approved redress scheme. Showing it on the website is a scheme rule: TPO members must include TPO’s name and website address and its logo on their website.
Is the material information guidance still in force?
No. National Trading Standards withdrew its 2023 guidance after a judicial review (its 2025-26 annual report). Listings still mustn’t leave out information a buyer needs.
Building the site
A website for estate agents, with this built in.
Other trades with a rule of their own: dentists · architects · physiotherapists · therapists and psychologists · driving instructors · gas engineers · cafés, restaurants and caterers.