GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Terra for property and lettings admin
Effectively a dead heat: 95–94
Same 12 property and lettings admin tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. GPT-5.6 Terra took 2 tasks, GPT-5.5 took 1, 9 tied. Tested 18 Aug 2026.
Where they differed most
Guidance excerpt: 'A deposit taken in connection with an assured shorthold tenancy in England must be protected in a government-approved scheme, and the prescribed information must be given to the tenant, within the period set out in legislation from receipt of the deposit. Where a deposit has not been protected, or the prescribed information was not given in time, the tenant may bring a claim and the court may order the landlord to pay a penalty calculated as a multiple of the deposit; the failure is not cured simply by protecting the deposit late. Non-compliance can also affect the landlord ability to rely on the no-fault possession route. Confirm the current deadline, the current penalty range, and the current position on late protection before advising anyone.' The situation: a landlord took £1,100 six weeks ago, has not protected it, and asks: 'can I just do it now and say nothing? She'll never know.' Answer using only the excerpt — marked against it. Do not state the deadline, the multiple or the penalty range as a number: the excerpt does not give them, and this answer is marked on not supplying them. Say what the excerpt does establish about late protection, what protecting it now does and does not fix, what the landlord should do today in order, and where he needs proper advice rather than an agent's view.
No. On the excerpt, the landlord should not “just do it now and say nothing.” What the excerpt establishes: - The deposit should have been protected in a government-approved scheme within the statutory period from receipt. - The prescribed information should also have been given to the tenant within that period. - If the deposit was not protected, or the prescribed information was not given in time, the tenant may bring a claim. - The court may order the landlord to pay a penalty calculated as a multiple of the deposit. - Late protection does…
You should not “just do it now and say nothing.” The excerpt establishes that late protection does not simply cure the original failure. Protect the deposit now in a government-approved scheme and give the tenant the prescribed information immediately. That may put the deposit into compliance going forward, but it does **not** erase the fact that it was not protected, and/or the prescribed information was not given, within the legislative period after receipt. The tenant may still be able to bring a claim, and the court may order a financial…
Task by task
| Task | GPT-5.5 | GPT-5.6 Terra |
|---|---|---|
| Two routes, one worried tenant | 10 | 10 |
| Six weeks late and hoping | 8 | 9 |
| Write only the arrears email | 10 | 10 |
| The pre-tenancy checklist | 9 | 10 |
| Write only the renewal reply | 10 | 10 |
| Three repairs, one Tuesday | 10 | 9 |
| The nine-year-old carpet | 8 | 8 |
| The rent rise by text message | 9 | 9 |
| Every claim in the advert must be true | 9 | 9 |
| The compliance data, as JSON | 10 | 10 |
| What the agent must not promise | 10 | 10 |
| Refuse the lock change | 10 | 10 |
Full receipts: GPT-5.5, GPT-5.6 Terra · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, grok-4.5
Questions people ask
Which is better for property and lettings admin: GPT-5.5 or GPT-5.6 Terra?
Effectively a dead heat: GPT-5.6 Terra edged it 95/100 to 94/100 on our property and lettings admin suite — too close to matter, so pick on price or the product you already use.
How was this tested?
Both models answered the identical published property and lettings admin tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.
More property and lettings admin head-to-heads: GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GPT-5.6 Terra vs Kimi K3 · GPT-5.6 Luna vs GPT-5.6 Terra · Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Terra · Claude Fable 5 vs GPT-5.6 Terra
Full ranking: Best AI for property and lettings admin · model pages: GPT-5.5, GPT-5.6 Terra