{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/housing-and-planning-act-2016/section-54",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/housing-and-planning-act-2016/section-54.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2016/22",
  "legislation_title": "Housing and Planning Act 2016",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/housing-and-planning-act-2016",
  "path": "section/54",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "54",
  "heading": "Meaning of “letting agent” and related expressions",
  "text": "(1) In this Part “letting agent” means a person who engages in letting agency work (whether or not that person engages in other work).\n(2) But a person is not a letting agent for the purposes of this Part if the person engages in letting agency work in the course of that person's employment under a contract of employment.\n(3) In this Part “letting agency work” means things done by a person in the course of a business in response to instructions received from—\n(a) a person (“a prospective landlord”) seeking to find another person to whom to let housing, or\n(b) a person (“a prospective tenant”) seeking to find housing to rent.\n(4) But “letting agency work” does not include any of the following things when done by a person who does nothing else within subsection (3)—\n(a) publishing advertisements or disseminating information;\n(b) providing a means by which a prospective landlord or a prospective tenant can, in response to an advertisement or dissemination of information, make direct contact with a prospective tenant or a prospective landlord;\n(c) providing a means by which a prospective landlord and a prospective tenant can communicate directly with each other.\n(5) In this Part “English letting agency work” means letting agency work that relates to housing in England.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "S. 54 in force at 6.4.2017 by S.I. 2017/281, reg. 4(e)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2016/22/section/54",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:06:11.976723+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}