Form News

TA6 update with Material Information 25th March 2024. TA7 updated too.

Important Updates to the Law Society Transaction (TA) Forms

I wanted to let you know that, on the 25 March 2024, the Law Society is launching revised versions of the TA6 Property Information Form, now in it’s 5^th Edition, TA6 Explanatory Notes for Sellers and Buyers and TA7 Leasehold Information Form now 4^th Edition. Updated versions of all forms can be found within the FormEvo library. 

This new version of the TA6 Property Information Form includes the information that the National Trading Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) says should be disclosed on property listings in its Material Information in Property Listings (Sales) guidance. 

This guidance is designed to help estate agents comply with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 by putting key information about a property in the marketing materials so that consumers can make better informed decisions when looking for a property to buy. 

NTSELAT guidance advises sellers to contact their solicitor at an early stage. (Note; typically it’s the Conveyancer that has access to the Law Society Licenced TA forms. Estate Agents do not and neither do ‘Sellers Pack’ providers have Law Society forms generally speaking since Legal Advice is advised around the answers to the questions of). Net result any of your clients in Property will be affected and may ask your support desks about this. Hence we are trying to help with those responses. Feel free to direct them to FormEvo if you would prefer us to respond.

The aim is to ensure that buyers know more about what they are buying earlier. It is hoped that this will reduce the likelihood of the sale and purchase falling through at a later stage. On the other hand, more reliable information upfront will cost the Seller and this will reduce ‘testing the market sellers’ appearing. Personally, we believe this is Home Information Packs by the back door which caused disruption to the Property market and Conveyancers and was thrown out by Government on the 10^th May 2010.

The TA6 Explanatory Notes for Buyers and Sellers and the TA7 Leasehold Information Form have also been updated and usefully now is an HTML link so there is a dynamic single source of guidance (they are prone to revision). 

The fifth edition of the TA6 Property Information Form now comes in two parts: 

• Part 1 provides prescribed ‘material information’ needed by estate agents/ seller to market a property. This information will be used as an integral part of information provision by solicitors and conveyancers in the conveyancing process with Part 2.
  
  To not meet the ‘material requirements’ is a Criminal Offence!
   
• Part 2 asks further questions, that are not prescribed as ‘Material Information’ but very much part of the overall need for information for the buyer 

 

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. 

 

As the TA6 now includes enquiries about the type of leasehold property and the ground rent that is payable as part of the disclosure of material information, these questions have been omitted from the updated TA7 Leasehold Information Form and in effect moved to the TA6. 

Earlier contact between sellers and their solicitors may provide an opportunity to address any issues, (e.g. title or lease length) that may create delays with the sale later on. It is expected that estate agents may use the TA6 data sets so that the information can flow through from marketing to the legal process and yet there is no prescribed schema or any indication as to how this may work.

Its is FormEvo’s intention to create that JSON schema and API, and surface the Law Society authorised and licensed data collection questions via an iFrame and free to install ‘FormEvo App’ for Sellers and Agents to use via the Conveyancer.

This is a technical challenge but an exciting one that we would like to include you in on as an integrator to FormEvo. We all have customers that need help to avoid, their clients, the seller, committing a criminal offense inadvertently. A great opportunity for you to touch base with your Law firm clients about ‘Legal Forms’ provision.

The Law Society have applied an embargo on these updates, until Monday 25th March 2024.  There is a transition period mandatory end date of 25th June 2024.

NO Forms Provider should supply forms out of date from the 26^th June onwards. 

I am proud to say that the FormEvo Editorial team have worked tirelessly to meet not the last date deadline but the first date opportunity being Monday 25^th March 2024

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Kind regards 

Archie Courage (Managing director)