Law Society has launched revised versions of the TA6 Property Information Form, TA6 Explanatory Notes for Sellers and Buyers and TA7 Leasehold Information Form.
The new version of the TA6 Property Information Form has been updated to include information recommended by the National Trading Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) in its Material Information in Property Listings (Sales) guidance. Material Information in Property Listings (Sales)
NTSELAT’s guidance aims to assist estate agents in complying with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. This involves disclosing key information about a property in marketing materials, enabling consumers to make better-informed decisions when searching for a property to purchase.
According to NTSELAT’s guidance, sellers are advised to engage their solicitor early in the process. This may lead sellers to seek assistance in completing the TA6 Property Information Form sooner, allowing more detailed property information to be used in marketing. The objective is to ensure that buyers have a comprehensive understanding of the property they are considering, with the hope of reducing the likelihood of a sale falling through at a later stage.
Updates have also been made to the TA6 Explanatory Notes for Buyers and Sellers, as well as the TA7 Leasehold Information Form.
The latest edition of the TA6 Property Information Form is now split into two parts:
- Part 1 contains essential information needed by estate agents for marketing purposes. Some of this information will also be used by solicitors and conveyancers during the conveyancing process.
- Part 2 consists of supplementary questions, providing additional details that may be necessary for the conveyancing process.
The TA6 Property Information Form changes include:
- Property details: including the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) and council tax band of the property.
- Tenure, ownership and charges: whether the property is freehold, leasehold, shared ownership, or commonhold; and details of the costs, such as ground rent and service charges.
- Parking: including the cost of parking permits and whether the property has electric vehicle (EV) charging.
- Building safety: providing details of any defects or hazards at the property and whether essential works have been recommended and carried out.
- Restrictive covenants that affect the use of the property.
- Flood risk and coastal erosion: to establish what the flood risk is for the area around the property, whether any defences have been installed, and if the property is near the coast, whether there is any known risk of coastal erosion.
- Accessibility: the adaptations or features that have been made to provide easier access to, and within, the property.
- Coalfield or mining area: identifying if the property is impacted by any past or present mining activity.
- Solar panels: providing details about the installation that a buyer/lender will need to know.
- Services connected: these now include air and ground heat pumps.
- Drainage and sewerage: additional questions about where the sewerage system discharges to and whether it has an infiltration system.
- Japanese knotweed: refinement of the question to incorporate the area adjacent to or abutting the property.
Given that the TA6 now includes inquiries about the type of leasehold property and ground rent as part of material information disclosure, these questions have been removed from the updated TA7 Leasehold Information Form.
Early communication between sellers and their solicitors may offer an opportunity to address potential issues (e.g., title or lease length) that could cause delays in the sale process. It is hoped that estate agents will utilise the TA6 data collection sets to facilitate the flow of information from marketing to the legal process, with the goal of having better-informed buyers, ultimately reducing processing times and minimising sales fall-throughs.
The TA6 form includes a weblink to an HTML version of the TA6 Explanatory Notes for Sellers and Buyers on the Law Society’s website. Customers can access and print these notes as needed. Additionally, digitised versions of the TA6 may provide links to specific sections and questions in the HTML version of the notes.
The HTML version of the TA6 Explanatory Notes on the website will be available from March 25, 2024. Until then, a PDF version of the TA6 Explanatory Notes is attached for reference.
If you’re interested in seeing how Hoowla can speed-up and automate your conveyancing team, why not arrange a free, no-obligation demo today?