Reviews and testimonials on a builder’s website: what the law says

What the law bans

Paragraph 13 of Schedule 20 to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, in force from 6 April 2025, makes these commercial practices automatically unfair:

• submitting or commissioning a fake consumer review (one that claims to be, but isn’t, based on genuine experience);
• submitting or commissioning a review that conceals that it was incentivised;
• publishing reviews or review information in a misleading way. The Act gives examples: hiding negative reviews while publishing positive ones, giving positive reviews more prominence, or leaving out relevant context;
• publishing reviews without taking reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent and remove banned reviews.

What that means in practice

The CMA’s short guide for businesses says that if you publish consumer reviews, you need your own procedures to prevent and remove fake reviews. That includes a published policy prohibiting fake reviews and stating your approach to incentivised reviews. What’s proportionate depends on your circumstances, such as how many reviews you publish and where they come from.

• Don’t write testimonials yourself, or ask friends and family to post reviews for work they didn’t receive.
• If you offer anything in return for a review (a discount, a prize draw entry), say so clearly next to the review.
• Don’t cherry-pick: if you show a rating, it should reflect all the reviews it’s based on.
• Keep records showing each testimonial came from a real customer, and get their permission to use their name and photos.

Showing reviews well

• Link to independent review profiles where customers can see every review, good and bad.
• Use first name and area (“Sarah, Ealing”) with the customer’s permission, plus the type of job.
• Pair a testimonial with photos of the same project. It’s more convincing than a star rating on its own.
• Reply to criticism politely and factually. It shows how you handle problems.

Questions people ask

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