Impact of new consumer protection laws on landlords

It’s always important to keep up to date with recent changes to UK law. We break down details of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC Act), which has ramifications for private landlords letting properties.

Considering that this new piece of legislation covers a broad focus, it has been implemented in stages, with the consumer protection aspect only recently coming into force as of 6th April 2025.

What is the DMCC Act about?

The central focus of the DMCC Act include promoting fairness in digital spaces and cracking down on exploitative marketing practices that harm consumers.

As the UK operates under the principles of a ‘mixed economy’, government regulation against anticompetitive business practices is often necessary to maintain fairness in the market. Nonetheless, any kind of market intervention is controversial among those who would prefer a completely ‘Free Market’ economy.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating competition throughout the UK economy, and this Act is partly designed to push more enforcement power into their hands. 

Following the Act’s implementation, the CMA are now allowed to issue large fines without having to go through any court processes.

Impact on private landlords

Although it is not strictly targeted at private landlords, the DMCC Act will force them to be even more careful in how they market their properties, and how they interact with potential tenants.

Omission of key pieces of information when marketing property is a marketing practice that will no longer be allowed under the DMCC Act. This naturally applies to letting agents, as well.

Most landlords are completely honest and transparent in their dealings with tenants and intermediaries. But from now on, landlords will have to be extra diligent about ensuring all ‘material information’ provided about their properties is accurate and up to date, otherwise they could face hefty fines from the CMA.

In particular, landlords with large portfolios across wide areas may have a harder time keeping track of every possible fault in their properties.

However, the emphasis on ‘material information’ is key to the enforcement of this Act. All this means is that the CMA will prioritise omission of information that could significantly impact decisions of consumers. For example, mould build-up would have to be mentioned somewhere.

Specific to the PRS, the DMCC Act forbids the practice of “drip pricing”, a method used by rogue landlords to hide and slowly reveal additional fees for tenants. Any legal fees would need to be disclosed in full before a tenant rents a property.

We regularly write detailed guides designed to inform private landlords. These cover all sorts of topics, and are updated regularly. They include how to keep up with the latest regulations, so take a look through our guide library to find any that will be helpful for you.