Letting agent terms and conditions: what is in them, and which terms can you challenge?

In England, letting agent terms of business are mainly contract documents, but the rules differ sharply across the UK. Scotland prescribes core content by statute, Wales ties the content to the agent’s licence and code, and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 unfair-terms rules apply UK-wide where the landlord is a consumer.

What is in a letting agent's terms of business?

A letting agent’s terms of business usually set the agent and landlord agreement for fees, services, authority, renewal commission, management duties, client money, termination and complaint routes, but only Scotland prescribes detailed contents by statute. In Scotland, the Letting Agent Code requires plain-language terms of business covering the statutory heads, and the agent and landlord must both sign and date them: “You and the landlord must both sign and date your agreed terms of business and you must give the landlord a copy for their records.” In Wales, the agent’s licence must require compliance with the Welsh Ministers’ code, and that code requires the agent to give the landlord enough time to read and understand the details before agreeing. In England and Northern Ireland there is no statutory letting agent terms and conditions contents list; for England, TPO’s 1 May 2026 code instead requires member terms to state the instruction’s minimum duration and how either side can terminate.

Does the Consumer Rights Act 2015 protect a landlord, or only a consumer?

Landlords assume running a business excludes them from consumer protection, but by default it does not: under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 the letting agent must prove an individual landlord is not a consumer, not the other way round. CRA Part 2 applies to unfair terms in trader-consumer contracts because “This Part applies to a contract between a trader and a consumer.” A consumer is an individual acting wholly or mainly outside their trade, business, craft or profession, and the Act says: “A trader claiming that an individual was not acting for purposes wholly or mainly outside the individual’s trade, business, craft or profession must prove it.” Companies are different, because the Act’s explanatory notes say consumer protection does not apply to small businesses or incorporated organisations. CMA guidance for lettings professionals goes further in practice, telling agents to comply with consumer law for all landlords unless the landlord is clearly corporate or running a many-property business. That is why the Consumer Rights Act 2015 can apply to estate agents and letting agents dealing with individual landlords across the UK.

Which terms in a letting agent's contract are unfair and unenforceable?

An unfair term in a letting agent’s consumer contract is unenforceable against the landlord-consumer, but a landlord signing online, by phone or at home may also have a separate cooling-off right to cancel without proving unfairness. CRA 2015 states the core rule directly: “An unfair term of a consumer contract is not binding on the consumer.” The test is whether the term, contrary to good faith, causes a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations to the consumer’s detriment. Schedule 2 is not an automatic blacklist, but it flags terms that may be unfair, including a term requiring a disproportionately high sum where the consumer does not proceed or where services have not been supplied. Hidden renewal commission is the classic letting-agent example: the Foxtons litigation did not decide renewal commission is always unfair, but it found that significant ongoing commission can operate adversely as time goes on. Separately, the 2013 cancellation regulations say a consumer may cancel a distance or off-premises contract in the cancellation period without giving any reason.

Last reviewed September 2026.

Sources

• The Letting Agent Code of Practice (Scotland) Regulations 2016, schedule, paragraph 33 — “You and the landlord must both sign and date your agreed terms of business and you must give the landlord a copy for their records.” Source
• Housing (Wales) Act 2014, section 22 — “A licence must be granted subject to a condition that the licence holder complies with any code of practice issued by the Welsh Ministers under section 40.” Source
• Rent Smart Wales Code of Practice for Landlords and Agents — “The agent must give the landlord sufficient time to read and understand these details before requiring them to agree to them.” Source
• Propertymark, UK regulation of property agents — “There is currently no overarching statutory regulation of private sector letting or managing agents in England.” Source
• Propertymark, UK regulation of property agents — “There is currently no letting agent regulation in Northern Ireland and there are no legally binding requirements on letting agents to join a redress scheme or have Client Money Protection (CMP).” Source
• The Property Ombudsman Code of Practice for Residential Letting Agents, England, updated 1 May 2026 — “Your Terms of Business must clearly state the minimum duration of your instruction, and how it can be terminated by either party.” Source
• Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 61 — “This Part applies to a contract between a trader and a consumer.” Source
• Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 2 — “Consumer” means an individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside that individual’s trade, business, craft or profession. Source
• Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 2 — “A trader claiming that an individual was not acting for purposes wholly or mainly outside the individual’s trade, business, craft or profession must prove it.” Source
• Consumer Rights Act 2015, explanatory notes to section 2 — “Firstly, a consumer must be an “individual” (that is, a natural person) – the Act’s protection for consumers does not apply to small businesses or legally incorporated organisations (e.g. companies formed by groups of residents).” Source
• Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 76 — “Section 2(4) (trader who claims an individual is not a consumer must prove it) applies in relation to this Part as it applies in relation to Part 1.” Source
• CMA, Guidance for lettings professionals on consumer protection law — “Whilst it should not be assumed that every landlord is a consumer for the purposes of the law covered in this guidance, the CMA considers it is advisable for letting agents to comply consistently with the requirements of consumer protection law when dealing with all landlords, unless the landlord is clearly a corporate entity or running a business that lets out many properties.” Source
• Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 62 — “An unfair term of a consumer contract is not binding on the consumer.” Source
• Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 62 — “A term is unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations under the contract to the detriment of the consumer.” Source
• Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 63 — “Part 1 of Schedule 2 contains an indicative and non-exhaustive list of terms of consumer contracts that may be regarded as unfair for the purposes of this Part.” Source
• Consumer Rights Act 2015, schedule 2 — “A term which has the object or effect of requiring that, where the consumer decides not to conclude or perform the contract, the consumer must pay the trader a disproportionately high sum in compensation or for services which have not been supplied.” Source
• Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 64 — “Subsection (1) excludes a term from an assessment under section 62 only if it is transparent and prominent.” Source
• Office of Fair Trading v Foxtons Ltd judgment — “I shall not decide whether or not renewal commission is always unfair to consumer landlords.” Source
• Office of Fair Trading v Foxtons Ltd judgment — “The commission amounts in question are significant, and operate adversely to the client the more time goes on.” Source
• Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, regulation 29 — “The consumer may cancel a distance or off-premises contract at any time in the cancellation period without giving any reason, and without incurring any liability except under these provisions—” Source