The Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 is an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation Primary legislation and secondary legislation (the latter also called delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislat ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

which makes the misidentification of various aspects of a properties specifications and particulars a

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

. The Act was repealed by the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 (Repeal) Order 2013, which came into force on 1 October 2013. Customers of estate agents will instead need to rely on the parallel protections under the

Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 is a statutory instrument in the United Kingdom made under the European Communities Act 1972. It came into force on 26 May 2008. It is effectively the successor to the Trade Descript ...

, which implement the EU

Unfair Commercial Practices Directive The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/ECOfficial Journal of the European Union, L149/22 – L149/39, 11 June 2005 regulates unfair business practices in EU law, as part of European consumer law. It requires corresponding laws to be ...

External links

Full text of the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991Full text of the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 (Repeal) Order 2013
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1991 Property law of the United Kingdom {{UK-statute-stub