Fact sheets and FAQs

The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 1992 apply to Wales and some aspects of the regulations were updated by the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2017.

The Building Safety Act 2022 aims to provide more rights, powers and protections for residents of high-risk buildings and reduce the chance of death in the event a fire breaks out. The Act establishes specific duties for individuals within high-risk buildings to manage building safety risks.

On 6 September 2022, the Scottish Government set out plans to tackle the cost-of-living crisis that included emergency legislation to introduce a freeze on rents and a moratorium on evictions for both the private and social rented sectors.

The aim of the legislation is to reducing money laundering and increase the transparency of business operations in the UK. More recent regulations have been largely driven in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where the focus has been on overseas actors.

A ministerial working group, established in 2020, sought to review the existing issues with cladding and found that the process for remediation was overly complex and was preventing the sale of homes. The Act is designed to help facilitate more buildings to have their cladding remediated to higher standards, so they are less likely to lead to further loss of life in the event of a fire.

The Charities (Dispositions of Land: Designated Advisers and Reports) Regulations 2023 remove restrictions on who can sell land for charitable organisations. Our FAQ includes minor additional changes introduced by The Charities Act 2022 (Commencement No. 3, Consequential, Saving and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2024.

After the invasion of Ukraine, the UK Government took steps to address growing concerns of money laundering and other economic crime from Russian and foreign entities operating in the UK or with UK companies. This led to the introduction of the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act in March 2022.

In Scotland, the Tolerable Standard states that properties should have an adequate piped supply of wholesome drinking water. Statutory guidance on the Repairing Standard, which came into effect on 1 March 2024, now specifies that the property should be free of lead pipes from the boundary stopcock to the kitchen tap.

The levy was announced at Budget 2020 and the Economic Crime (Anti-Money Laundering) Levy Regulations 2022 were published on 11 March 2022. The Regulations came into force on 1 April 2022.

Under the Immigration Act 2014, since 1 February 2016, all landlords of private rented accommodation in England have been required to carry out Right to Rent checks for new tenancy agreements to determine whether all adult occupiers aged 18 and over have the right to live in the UK.

Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF), commonly referred to as spray foam, is a liquid material used to insulate homes. An alternative to traditional building insulation, it's especially advantageous for improving energy efficiency through insulating difficult and tight spaces. However, consumers should carefully consider the impact it can have on valuations, lenders decisions and surveys.

The Fire Safety Order was introduced in October 2006 and covers the ongoing fire safety management of a building while occupied.

The Repairing Standard was introduced through the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 and is the minimum level of repair a house must achieve to be used as privately rented accommodation.

The purpose of the Ivory Act is to prohibit commercial activities concerning ivory in the UK and the import and re-export of ivory for commercial purposes to and from the UK. This includes intra-EU trade to and from the UK.

Sections 1-6 of the Private Tenancies Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 were enacted on 1 April 2023. This FAQ document provides answers to the most common questions that we have received from Propertymark members.

Mandatory registration for private landlords in Scotland was introduced in 2004 under Part 8 of the Antisocial Behaviour Etc. (Scotland) Act 2004. Local authorities are responsible for maintaining information on landlords in their area.

The Renting Homes (Wales) Act replaces existing legislation from the Housing Act 2004 with a new tenancy structure for Wales. The primary purpose is to make the legal framework easier to understand and will also mark a key separation in legislation between Wales and England.

In 2011, the Northern Ireland Assembly passed the Housing (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 and later the Tenancy Deposit Schemes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 which introduced regulations for protecting tenancy deposits in Northern Ireland.

The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 restricts ground rents on newly created long residential leases for single dwellings such as a flat or house to a token one peppercorn per year, effectively restricting ground rents to zero financial value.