Answers on Record, Questions in Reserve: The TA6 as Evidence Before Exchange

A seller’s property information form arrives with an air of completion about it. It is signed, dated and returned, and the transaction appears to move one step closer to exchange. In 2026, however, buyers should resist reading the TA6 as a clean bill of health. It is better understood as a written account of the property’s history, given by a party with an interest in the sale. That account can be useful, but it is not a warranty, and it is rarely the end of the enquiry.

Disclosure, not guarantee

The TA6 is a standard form used in residential sales in England and Wales, with related forms covering leasehold matters and fixtures and fittings. Its purpose is to disclose what the seller knows about the property, not to certify that the property is free from defect. A negative answer may mean that a problem does not exist; it may equally mean that the seller has never investigated the point, has forgotten it, or does not recognise it as a problem.

This distinction matters because a buyer’s remedy for a misleading answer is not the same as a remedy for a defect. A claim may arise if a statement is untrue or misleading, but proving reliance and materiality can be difficult after completion. The practical course is to treat each answer as a lead: something to be corroborated by documents, searches, inspection or a specialist opinion before contracts are exchanged.

Three readings of one answer

Most TA6 responses fall into one of three categories. First, there is the answer: a specific statement with a date, a document reference or a named contractor. Second, there is avoidance: language such as ‘not to my knowledge’, ‘no issues have been reported’, ‘routine maintenance’ or ‘believed to be in order’. Third, there is the admission: a known dispute, an alteration carried out without consent, an expired guarantee or a boundary arrangement that is not recorded on the title.

Each requires a different response. A specific answer still needs the supporting document. An avoidance answer needs a further enquiry that pins down what the seller actually knows and when they came to know it. An admission needs to be priced, resolved or accepted with clear eyes. The mistake is to treat all three as though they carry the same evidential weight simply because they appear in the same box.

Alterations and the paper trail

Questions about alterations are among the most frequently under-answered on the form. Extensions, loft conversions, garage conversions, cellar works, garden offices and annexes may all have required planning permission, building regulations approval or both. A response that the work was ‘done before my time’ is common and not necessarily dishonest, but it leaves the buyer without the documents that a lender, insurer or future purchaser may later request.

Ask for the planning decision notice, the building regulations completion certificate, structural calculations, glazing certificates and electrical installation certificates where relevant. Where the paperwork is missing, an indemnity policy may be offered. Such policies can address enforcement risk, but they do not make a defective structure sound. They are a financial instrument, not a technical remedy.

Disputes, complaints and neighbour matters

The TA6 asks about disputes and complaints relating to the property. A ‘minor disagreement’ with a neighbour may be exactly that, but it may also be the visible edge of a longer history involving correspondence, mediation or a formal notice. Ask for dates, the parties involved, the subject of the dispute and how it was resolved. If the matter concerned a boundary, shared access or a party wall, the relevant award or agreement should be produced.

Insurance disclosures deserve equal attention. A dispute that has been notified to an insurer may affect future premiums or insurability, even if it has since been settled. Buyers should not assume that a ‘no’ answer means the property has no contentious history; it may mean only that the seller does not regard the history as contentious.

Guarantees and warranties

Guarantees for damp treatment, timber treatment, roofing, glazing or new-build cover are only as useful as their paperwork. Ask whether the guarantee is transferable, whether it has been registered, what conditions apply and whether any claim has been made. An expired guarantee is not necessarily a defect, but it changes the risk profile. A missing guarantee for recent work is a prompt for a specialist inspection rather than a reason to proceed on trust.

Boundaries, rights and access

Boundary answers are often given with more confidence than the title documents support. The form may identify which boundaries the seller believes they own, but belief is not the same as registered title. Obtain the title plan and deeds, and check for unregistered land, rights of way, shared access arrangements and maintenance obligations. Where access depends on a neighbour’s land, the legal basis should be clear and, ideally, documented.

A follow-up schedule

A useful discipline is to convert the completed form into a schedule of requests. For each answer that is vague, material or inconsistent with another document, record what is needed and who is responsible for obtaining it.

Specialist opinion before exchange

Solicitors’ enquiries are essential, but they are not a substitute for technical inspection. A structural engineer, damp and timber specialist, drainage contractor or planning consultant may be needed where the form points to works, movement, water or unauthorised development. The cost of that advice before exchange is usually modest against the cost of discovering the issue afterwards.

Exchange is the point at which the buyer’s bargaining position narrows sharply. If the form reveals a gap in the evidence, the time to raise it is while the seller still has an incentive to answer. A clean TA6 is a starting point, not a conclusion. The buyer’s task is to decide which answers can be relied upon, which need documents, and which require a professional eye.