✅ 11 Days Out: Renters’ Rights Act D-Day

Phase 1 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 goes live on 1 May 2026 — that’s 11 working days away. Section 21 is abolished, all assured shortholds automatically become assured periodic tenancies, and rent arrears possession now needs three months, not two.

Landlords must serve the new Form 4A for any rent increases proposed on or after 1 May, and every existing tenant must receive the Government’s Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 by 31 May, either by post, by hand, or by email or text as a PDF attachment.

For letting agents, this is a compliance landmine and a commercial gift in equal measure. Landlords who’ve been DIY-ing this year are about to realise they need a professional — your phone should be ringing.

Source: gov.uk; Dentons; Trowers & Hamlins; The Independent Landlord.

⚡ Rightmove in the £1.5bn Dock

Rightmove has been named in a £1.5 billion ($2bn) class-action lawsuit filed in the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal, with claimants alleging the portal has abused its dominant market position by charging estate agents “excessive” subscription fees over a period of years.

Rightmove is expected to defend robustly — but whatever the outcome, this is the clearest signal yet that portal pricing is now officially a regulatory matter, not just a Twitter gripe.

Whether you’re a fan, a critic, or a hostage, take a minute this week to audit your portal spend per listing against your actual lead attribution. If this case goes anywhere, you’ll want the data.

Source: Yahoo Finance UK; Property Industry Eye; The Negotiator.

📊 OnTheMarket Edges Ahead of Zoopla

A leads-management firm reports that OnTheMarket has overtaken Zoopla for lead volume among its agent sample this quarter — a meaningful shift since CoStar took OTM private in 2023 and ramped investment.

Rightmove still leads the pack on traffic, with a 55–65% share of online searches, but the race for second place is genuinely open for the first time in a decade.

If you’ve been coasting on a two-portal strategy, now’s the moment to test the third. Ask your OTM BDM for a free trial month and measure leads properly — don’t guess.

Source: The Negotiator; OnlineMarketplaces.com.

🏠 Market Vitals: Spring Is Here, But Cautiously

Rightmove’s April HPI has average new-seller asking prices up 0.8% month-on-month to £373,971. March transactions were agreed at £345.64 per square foot — 2% up on a year ago and 12.7% up on five years ago.

But sales agreed net of fall-throughs were down 2.5% on the 2017–19 average in March, 47.4% of homes leaving agents’ books were withdrawn unsold, and RICS surveyors are reporting a drop in new buyer enquiries.

The diagnosis? Overvaluing on long 20+ week sole agency agreements, plus the mortgage-rate shock from the Iran conflict pushing two-year fixes to a 5.42% average. The ceasefire has triggered cuts from Santander, TSB, Coventry and Skipton — but don’t call it a trend yet. If you haven’t price-reviewed your stock this month, do it Monday.

Source: Rightmove HPI April 2026; TwentyCI; RICS; Property Industry Eye; HomeOwners Alliance.

🤖 Say Hello to Clara (and Friends)

A new wave of AI tools designed specifically for agents is now live. Clara is a conversational AI assistant that walks buyers and sellers through AML checks, launched off the back of research showing two-thirds of agents expect to deploy AML and compliance automation this year.

Alongside it, Alto has rolled out AI Listings, which creates property descriptions in seconds, and AI Analyst, which allows natural-language questions about agency performance. Reapit AI, with predictive lead scoring and automated follow-ups, is also in phased launch.

Agencies are split by size: nine out of ten large agencies plan to adopt AI in 2026, compared to roughly half of smaller firms. The gap is about to become a chasm. Pick one tool, pilot it on one branch or one workflow, and measure it for 60 days.

Source: Estate Agent Today; Letting Agent Today; London Business Journal.

💰 PropTech Cash Is Flowing Again

A strong week on the funding rails. London’s Dwelly closed a £69m round to fuel its AI-powered rental marketplace acquisition spree. OneDome landed £25m pre-Series C toward building the UK’s first housing and fintech superapp.

Cardiff’s Openmoove added £700k, backed by the Development Bank of Wales and HAATCH, to scale its B2B workflow platform for agents, conveyancers and mortgage brokers. Giraffe360 also bagged £7.5m Series B for its digital listing content kit.

Translation for agents: expect more tools, sharper competition between vendors, and more acquisition activity. If you’re picking a supplier right now, weight your shortlist toward the ones with fresh runway.

Source: FinTech Futures; BusinessCloud; BeBeez International; UKTN.

🌍 From Overseas: Viewit Lands in London

Viewit, an international PropTech, is launching in London in 2026 with an AI-powered video editing tool that turns a raw walk-through into a branded, edited marketing video in minutes.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the ICSC is debuting a dedicated PropTech Forum at its Las Vegas convention, and Latin American residential PropTech is forecast to grow at a 5.42% CAGR from $256bn in 2026 to $333bn by 2031. AI rental platforms and digital transaction tools are leading the charge.

Why you care: the global race is where your 2027 tools will come from. Video content, agentic AI and digital transactions are where every market is converging. Don’t wait for a UK-only version — most of these work just fine over here.

Source: BeBeez International; The Global Economics; ICSC; PropTechBuzz.

🚀 On Kerfuffle This Week

We’ve updated the Renters’ Rights Act resource hub on kerfuffle.com with the Government’s new Form 4A, the Information Sheet 2026, and a step-by-step transition checklist for letting agents.

Fresh supplier reviews have also landed across CRM, AML, and valuation tool categories. The Kerfuffle Overall EA Supplier award, won by Street.co.uk two years running, is a good place to start if you’re auditing your tech stack.

And KCon is edging closer — block it in your diary!