# Material information: publishing what nobody checked

> Material information is the set of facts that must be published about a property before it is marketed, in three parts. The state that matters is the third: a question has three answers, not two — stated, not applicable, and not known, with a record of who was asked. A buyer cannot tell 'no covenants' from 'nobody looked', and publishing the second as the first is a misleading omission.

- Source: https://www.lodeprop.com/blog/material-information-nobody-looked-published
- Topic: Regulation
- Published: 2026-10-20
- Updated: 2026-10-20
- Figures: computed from a worked example

A property listing is a set of claims, and the dangerous claims are the ones made by omission. When a listing is silent on flood history, a buyer reads the silence as "no flooding" — and if the truth is that nobody ever checked, the silence has misled them. Material information is the discipline of never letting "nobody looked" masquerade as "nothing to report."

## What are the three parts?

Part A applies to every property: price, tenure, council tax band, and the handful of facts no listing may omit. Parts B and C apply where relevant — rights of way, flood history, restrictive covenants, mining, cladding. The parts decide what must be addressed; the three states decide how.

### Three states of a listing fact

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Stated | The fact is known and published |
| Not applicable | The fact does not arise for this property |
| Not known | Nobody has established it — and here is who was asked |

## Why is 'not known' a separate state?

Because collapsing it into either of the others misleads. Record a not-known fact as "not applicable" and you have claimed something you do not know. Leave it blank and the buyer fills the blank with an assumption. The only honest option is a third state that says, on the face of the listing, that the question was asked and not answered — and names who was asked, so the buyer knows whose silence they are reading. That is what turns an omission into a disclosure.

The consumer protection regime makes this a legal distinction, not a stylistic one. A misleading omission is as much a breach as a misleading statement, and the current rules treat the failure to disclose material information the average consumer needs as exactly that kind of omission. "Nobody looked," published as though nothing were wrong, is the textbook case.

## What does an unanswered question stop?

A Part A question with no answer stops the property being marketed at all — and because marketing is a precondition of a reveal, it stops the deal moving forward until the gap is filled. This is deliberate. The incentive on any listing is to go live and sort the details later; a gate that refuses to market an incomplete Part A removes that incentive, because "later" is where disclosure quietly dies.

Material information is one of several gates a listing clears before it is marketed, and they do different jobs. Seller Protection asks whether the transaction should happen at all and can block it outright. Customer due diligence asks who is actually selling — the person on the telephone is often not the registered proprietor. Material information asks what the buyer must be told about the property itself. A listing can satisfy one and fail another, which is why they are separate gates rather than a single checkbox, and why the completion probability of a deal rests on all three.

## What it changes about a listing

- A silence is never published as a fact — an unestablished point is shown as not known, with who was asked.
- An incomplete Part A blocks marketing rather than going live with a gap.
- The buyer can tell a checked fact from an unchecked one, which is the entire point of the exercise.
- The record of who was asked travels with the listing, so a later challenge can be answered.

Most of what makes a listing trustworthy is not the facts it states but the honesty of its gaps. A platform that publishes "not known — we asked the executor and it is being established" is more credible than one whose listings are suspiciously complete, and it is on the right side of the law while being so.

## Common questions

### What is the difference between 'not applicable' and 'not known'?

Not applicable means the fact does not arise for this property — there is no lease, so there is no ground rent. Not known means it does arise and has not been established, and the listing says so and names who was asked. Recording the second as the first is a false claim.

### Why does an unanswered question stop the marketing?

Because a Part A fact is one no listing may omit, and marketing with it blank is a misleading omission. Blocking the listing until the fact is stated or honestly marked not-known removes the incentive to go live and disclose later.

### Is publishing 'not known' worse for a sale than staying silent?

It is better, legally and commercially. Silence invites an assumption the seller may be held to; an honest 'not known, here is who was asked' is a disclosure, and it is more credible to a serious buyer than a listing with no gaps at all.

## Terms used

- [seller protection](https://www.lodeprop.com/glossary/seller-protection) — Checks that can stop a transaction outright where a seller may not be able to give free and informed consent.
- [completion probability](https://www.lodeprop.com/glossary/completion-probability) — The chance a transaction actually completes, derived from the chain, the tenure, the finance and what the seller needs.
- [material information](https://www.lodeprop.com/glossary/material-information) — The facts that must be published about a property before it is marketed, in three parts, with unanswered treated as an answer.
- [customer due diligence](https://www.lodeprop.com/glossary/customer-due-diligence) — Identifying and verifying who you are transacting with, and who is behind them, before the transaction proceeds.

## Sources

- [Material information in property listings, Parts A, B and C](https://www.nationaltradingstandards.uk) — National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (publisher's site; search the title there). What must be stated on every listing, and what must be stated where it applies, before a property is marketed.
- [Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Part 4](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/13) — legislation.gov.uk. The current consumer protection regime: misleading actions and misleading omissions, which replaced the 2008 Regulations for most purposes in April 2025.
- [Consumer Rights Act 2015](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15) — legislation.gov.uk. Unfair terms, and the requirement that a term be transparent as well as fair.
- [Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1277) — legislation.gov.uk. The misleading action and misleading omission tests, as they stood before the 2024 Act replaced them for most purposes.

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_Three-state model reflects the Lode material information engine and current National Trading Standards guidance._