Martin Lewis's latest intervention on consumer rights — reminding buyers that a faulty item's first port of call should be the retailer, not the manufacturer — might look like everyday personal finance advice with little bearing on property markets. In fact, for the UK's estimated 2.7 million buy-to-let landlords, and for developers fitting out thousands of new-build and refurbished units each year, this is a timely and financially material reminder. Landlords are, in law, consumers when they purchase boilers, ovens, washing machines and other appliances for their rental stock, and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives them clear, enforceable routes to redress against the retailer that sold the item — not the manufacturer that made it.