How to Assemble Material Information for a Rental Listing Before It Goes Live

The portal will not submit, Facebook is already live, and someone is asking “what’s the band?” Fill a one-page listing-facts sheet before anything goes live: rent and period, deposits, council-tax band, EPC letter, true rooms, type, parking, heating and utilities. Paste those fields onto the listing. Write “none known” only after a dated check. Clip a copy of the live listing to the sheet.

Tuesday. Jules’s 2-bed terrace in Nottingham, where council-tax band and parking are required on the portal. She types “TBC” for the band, leaves parking blank, and posts Facebook anyway: “3-bed, EPC TBC, available now.” An applicant comments “what’s the band — and is it actually two bedrooms?” The portal still will not submit, and there is no dated sheet.

“None known” is not a skip. After reasonable enquiries, you either have a fact or a dated check. Extra facts such as flood do not have to appear on every let — only if the property is affected. Blank and “n/a” without a check are the same gap. CMA207, 18 November 2025: material information must be clear, timely, and likely to be seen. Typical mistake: Facebook live while the portal is still blank.

Disclaimer: IziRento is operations software, not legal advice. Local tenancy rules vary; check a qualified adviser for binding decisions.

When to fill the listing-facts sheet?

Open a one-page sheet labelled listing-facts-YYYY-MM-DD before any advert is written. Do not post Facebook, and do not submit the portal, while required fields are blank or say TBC. A listing that states the property and the rent is an invitation to purchase — landlords and agents sit in the same duty. The facts have to exist before the first channel goes live.

In practice, Jules should have written the band, parking and bedroom count once, then copied those cells. The old lettings PDFs were withdrawn on 8 May 2025; the duty to give material information did not vanish. NRLA, 15 May 2025: the duty remains. Do not type “TBC”, “ask agent” or “POA” so the form appears to move.

What belongs on Part A before you paste?

Part A is the money-and-band block every listing needs: council-tax band, rent as a number and a period, and any deposit you will ask for. The lettings worksheet lists those cells. Write them on the sheet first. Then paste the same figures onto the listing. Do not go live with POA, “ask agent”, or a blank band.

Do look the band up by address on GOV.UK council-tax bands. If exempt, write exempt and why; if not yet assessed, write that — still a filled field. Rent is one monthly figure and period, for example £950 pcm — the same number as the asking-rent file.

England caps, from GOV.UK fees: security deposit up to five weeks’ rent if annual rent is below £50,000; holding deposit up to one week. You do not have to take a holding deposit. Put the amount here if you will ask; the clock lives on the holding-deposit record.

How do you put the energy rating letter on the advert?

Look up the Energy Performance Certificate — the letter rating — and paste that letter onto the sheet and every advert in commercial media. Internet, print and agent particulars all need the letter. You do not have to display the full certificate. Do not go live on “EPC TBC”.

Do search GOV.UK find an energy certificate and copy the letter, for example C. The dwellings guide: failing to include the rating can be a £200 penalty per advertisement.

If the register has no valid certificate, stop and use the EPC get-and-keep file before you advertise. Do not type TBC so the portal will submit.

Which rooms, parking and heating must every let establish?

Part B is the house as it actually is: type, true rooms, parking including none, heating, and utilities. Consumers may assume mains unless you say otherwise. Non-mains water, a septic tank, or off-mains electric must be stated. Broadband goes on if you looked it up.

Do write terrace — or flat plus floor. Count bedrooms that actually exist; do not list a loft as a bedroom if it has not met building regulations. Jules’s Facebook “3-bed” is the mismatch. Parking includes none, a permit, or an allocated bay — she needed “permit, no allocated space”. Write the heating type. For example, a terrace on a septic tank cannot leave sewerage blank.

Broadband: paste an Ofcom checker indication if you looked; do not invent a speed. Do not use the advert to refuse benefits or children.

Do you publish flood risk on every let?

No. Part C — flood, restrictions, building safety, planning, mining — only goes on the listing if the property is affected. You still check. Date the check, then write the fact or “none known (checked DATE on SERVICE)”. Blank is not a check.

Do pick the address, not just the postcode, on GOV.UK long-term flood risk. Add whether it flooded in the last five years from your own knowledge. NRLA, updated 9 May 2025: include Part C only if it affects the property. A no-pets clause or listed status belongs here if it applies.

Where do the same fields sit on the listing?

Put Part A on the first screen of the listing. Parts B and C should be prominent — no more than one click online, not behind “message me for the band”. If a channel has no field, put the facts in the description.

Do paste portal fields first. NRLA: Part A on the first page; B and C no more than one click. CMA207: hiding the facts counts as an omission even if a link exists. Jules’s Facebook “3-bed, EPC TBC” and a later portal with two bedrooms and band A are two adverts.

Why clip a live listing copy to the dated sheet?

Screenshot or PDF each live channel the day it goes up. Clip those copies to the dated sheet. If Facebook said three bedrooms and the portal later shows two, you advertised two different lets. Label the clip listing-facts-YYYY-MM-DD. That dated pair is the file if anyone asks what went live.

Do file the clip in the tenancy agreement folder. Workflow: open the sheet → fill Part A → paste the EPC letter → fill Part B → check Part C and date it → paste onto every channel → clip the live copies. If a fact changes, update the sheet, every channel, and the dated copy.

Success bar: sheet filled before go-live; listing shows the same fields; “none known” only with a dated check; a live copy on the clip. Verify that checklist. An IziRento workspace can hold the dated sheet and the live-listing copy on that lease.