What is a TA6 Form?
A TA6 is a crucial piece of paperwork to complete if you’re selling residential or business property in England or Wales. Its full title is the Law Society Property Information Form.
Like the TA10 Fixtures and Contents form and the TA7 Leasehold Information form, the TA6 is a transaction form that helps conveyancing—the legal processes needed for the property to change hands—to run smoothly.
Although it’s the seller’s responsibility to organise and provide the TA6, both sellers and buyers have an interest in making sure the TA6 is correct.
So if you’re asking yourself, “what is a TA6 in conveyancing?” read on to find out when you need a TA6, how to get one, and more about the seller’s legal responsibilities regarding property transaction forms.
And remember, because the homebuying and the conveyancing process is different in Scotland, you won’t need a TA6 if you’re buying or selling property north of the border.
The property information form TA6
When you’re selling a house, flat, or commercial building, you have to be up-front about any issues that the property has. You can get into serious legal trouble if you don’t disclose a problem you knew about beforehand or discover during the surveys and inspections that are done before you sell the property.
The TA6 is there to ensure all the information about the property (good and bad) is on the table so the buyer can decide whether to move forward with the purchase. The seller is responsible for making the completed TA6 form available, and the buyer must read it thoroughly.
Is a TA6 form a legal requirement? Officially, no. But as we said, sellers can run into serious legal problems if they don’t document faults with a property, and the form is a way of protecting them from that. Conveyancing solicitors and estate agents also strongly advise their clients to complete a TA6, as it can be a massive red flag for potential buyers if there isn’t a TA6 available when they’re considering whether to make an offer.
The equivalent in Scotland is the Home Report. Here, the Energy Report and the Home Report Questionnaire address most of the same areas as the TA6.
What does the TA6 form cover?
The TA6 form asks for a lot of information across 14 separate categories. The best TA6 form guidance is to give as much information in as many categories as you can and provide copies of receipts or official letters so the buyer has evidence that your claims are correct.
The categories are:
1. Boundaries
Where are the boundaries of the property? Where is the access? What are the owner’s rights when it comes to shared boundaries? And who owns the garden fence? There will be extra information in this category if there’s something unusual about the property boundary, like if the cellar extends out underneath the pavement at the front of the house.
2. Disputes and complaints
The seller doesn’t have to provide details about every disagreement with the neighbours. Still, if they’ve ever complained to the local authority or police and there’s evidence of the dispute in writing, it has to be disclosed in the TA6 so the buyer can take the information into account.
3. Notices and proposals
If the council plans to build a new road or electrify the railway line at the bottom of the street, the seller has to disclose this in the TA6. This is because it could cause disruption for the new owner or affect the property price in the future.
However, the seller isn’t expected to have a crystal ball here. If the information isn’t public, they can’t be held responsible if a new planning application is announced soon after the buyer moves in.
4. Alterations, planning and building control
This TA6 category covers a lot of ground.
First, if the property has been extended or the structure has been modified in some way, it’s important for the seller to give the details here. Ideally, they’d also give information about whether the alteration needed planning permission and include a letter showing that planning permission was granted.
Second, if the building has ever had a change of use (for example, if it’s an old shop that’s been converted into a residential building), the seller has to disclose this.
Third, the seller needs to state whether the building is listed and if it’s listed as grade I or grade II. This information is important because it influences the things the buyer will be able to do to make the house feel like their own. It would also drastically affect the price of making changes like replacing the roof tiles or windows.
And if the house has solar panels, it’s also important to note who owns them (i.e., the homeowner or the energy company) in this category.
5. Guarantees and warranties
Whenever possible, the seller should provide supporting documentation for the information they give in the TA6. That might be a copy of the planning permission notice for the loft conversion, a report from a boiler installation, or safety certificates from gas and electric inspections if the property was previously rented as an HMO. Likewise, if there’s a wooden deck that’s recently been treated, or if a roofer came to redo the flat roof of the garage, this is the place to provide the receipts.
6. Insurance
The buyer has to take all the potential costs of the property into account, and that includes their potential insurance premiums. If the seller was ever refused insurance, if their policy had a very high excess, or if they made a claim, it has to be stated here.
7. Environmental matters
This first part of this section focuses on risks to the property from flooding, radon, contamination from being built on brownfield (i.e., ex-industrial) land, or Japanese knotweed.
The seller will also have to provide information from their Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) in this category. Although the seller can write “don’t know” for many of the categories in the TA6, they must submit the property’s EPC.
8. Rights and informal arrangements
Here, the buyer can find out about their rights to shared spaces like gardens or courtyards of blocks of flats. This category will also explain if the neighbours have any right to use the owner’s garden to access their property or if a public footpath crosses the owner’s land.
The buyer will also find out about local bylaws here. For example, some villages still have Chancel Repair Liability, where if the local church is damaged (for example, because a tree comes down on the roof during a storm), the residents of the parish have to contribute money to cover the repairs.
9. Parking
Will the buyer have their own driveway or garage? Will they be allowed to park on the street in front of the property? Or is there a shared car park for residents? This is the place to find out.
10. Other charges
The seller doesn’t have to detail every charge for council tax or utilities, but if the property is leasehold rather than freehold, the associated expenses have to be entered here. By the way, if the property is leasehold, the seller will also have to fill out the TA7 Leasehold Information Form
11. Occupiers
If the property is rented and there are still tenants in situ, it has to be disclosed on the TA6.
12. Services
The TA6 will detail how services are supplied to the property, including whether it has a septic tank or it’s connected to the public sewer system. The seller might also give information about the services that cross the land. For example, it’s important to know when the owner has to maintain the pipes and protect them from tree roots, and where the water company will take over responsibility.
This section of the form also gives the buyer a lot of information about the age of the wiring in the house.
13. Connection to utilities and services
In this section, the buyer finds out whether the property is connected to everything from mains electricity and water to a phone line. It gives them a more accurate picture of any renovations or updates that might be needed to make the property liveable.
14. Transaction information
This section of the form can be supplemented by the TA10 Fixtures and Contents form. It gives information about when the seller is planning to move out and what they’re taking with them. They’ll also give information about whether the property sale is part of a chain. This information lets the buyer plan their own moving date.
What do you need to include in the TA6 when selling a new build?
In addition to the above, the TA6 for new-build properties will include the NHBC (National House Building Council) certificate and a FENSA certificate proving that the windows meet the latest building regulations.
These documents will help the buyer if something goes wrong during their first months in the property because it lets them know if part of the building is still under warranty. They also protect the seller if there’s a problem soon after the house or flat changes hands, as they can be used to show that it’s not their responsibility to put it right.
What happens if the TA6 is wrong?
The TA6 is a serious piece of paperwork. If the seller gives false information, there could be major financial and legal consequences.
If it can be proven that the seller knew about an issue and lied on the TA6, they can be sued or held responsible for the cost of fixing a problem—even after the sale is complete. This can be anything from covering the cost of repairing a leaky window to a court ordering the seller to repurchase their property because it was misrepresented.
But while it’s important to give as much information as you possibly can when you’re selling a property and completing your TA6, it’s also reassuring to know that the paperwork acknowledges two things:
The seller cannot be expected to know what happened in the property before it belonged to them.
The seller is not a legal expert or an engineer, and while they have to abide by the advice given by those professionals, some things are beyond their expertise to disclose.
And as long as your answer is honest, it’s also acceptable to enter “don’t know” in many of the categories on the TA6. The buyer might be able to find out more during the conveyancing process through specialist surveys. In fact, it’s a good idea for the buyer to order surveys anyway, and the TA6 isn’t a substitute for their own property inspection.
If the buyer is concerned (for example, the property is damp, but it’s not clear how serious the problem is without a structural survey), they can also make their offer contingent on the results of those surveys.
Final thoughts on the TA6 form
The TA6 is the most important of the three transaction forms you might need during the conveyancing process because it has the most information about the property. Filled out correctly, it should give a “warts and all” picture of a house, flat, or commercial building so the buyer knows exactly what they’re buying.
You can find an example of the TA6 form on the law society website, but remember that you’ll have to work with a solicitor or another licensed provider to have yours made up. Although having one is not compulsory, it’s a very good idea to make one available before you start looking for offers on your property.
Give as much information as you can without qualifying as a property lawyer or structural engineer, and ask your conveyancing solicitor if you have any further questions.
Also read:
How Much Does It Cost to Sell a House?
Conveyancing: Everything you need to know
What is The Meaning of SSTC? (Full Guide)
