The New TA6: What Every Conveyancer Needs to Know Before 1 March 2026

The Law Society’s TA6 Property Information Form has been overhauled. The sixth edition, published in 2025, must be used for all transactions from 1 March 2026. 

With new questions on solar panels, electric vehicle charging, heating systems and environmental matters, practitioners who fail to familiarise themselves with the changes risk delays, additional enquiries and, in the worst case, professional negligence claims. This article sets out what has changed, what to look out for, and how to adapt your practice.

Why the Form Has Changed

The fifth edition of the TA6 served the profession well for a number of years, but the property landscape has shifted considerably. The growth of domestic solar installations, the rise of electric vehicles, tightening environmental regulations around private drainage, and a broader push towards energy efficiency have all rendered the previous form incomplete. Buyers and their lenders now expect detailed information about matters that the old form simply did not address, and sellers who are not asked the right questions cannot be expected to volunteer the answers.

The Law Society’s decision to publish a sixth edition reflects these realities. The new form is longer and more detailed than its predecessor, but the additional questions are there for good reason. Each one addresses an area where post-completion disputes have become increasingly common or where regulatory requirements have changed. Practitioners who understand the rationale behind the changes will be better placed to guide their clients through the form and to spot issues early in the transaction.

The Key Changes at a Glance

Solar Power Systems

Perhaps the most significant addition is a dedicated suite of questions on solar power systems at question 5.6. The old form contained no specific provision for solar panels, leaving practitioners to raise ad hoc enquiries that varied widely in quality and scope. The new form asks sellers to confirm whether a solar system is installed and, if so, to provide detailed information including whether the system is owned outright or subject to a long lease of the roof or airspace, whether a battery storage system is present, whether the system feeds into the National Grid, and whether a Feed-in Tariff or Smart Export Guarantee agreement is in place.

The practical significance of these questions cannot be overstated. Leased solar panel arrangements have been a persistent source of difficulty in conveyancing. A long lease of the roof to a third-party solar provider can create complications with mortgage lenders, restrict the homeowner’s ability to carry out roof repairs, and impose ongoing obligations that transfer to the buyer. The new form brings these issues to the surface at the outset of the transaction rather than leaving them to be discovered at the eleventh hour.

Practitioners acting for sellers should ensure their clients understand the distinction between owning a solar system outright and having one installed under a lease or power purchase agreement. Practitioners acting for buyers should scrutinise the answers carefully and, if a lease is in place, request a copy for review. The terms of solar panel leases vary enormously, and some contain provisions that lenders will find unacceptable.

Leased solar panel arrangements have been a persistent source of difficulty in conveyancing. The new form brings these issues to the surface at the outset rather than leaving them to be discovered at the eleventh hour.

Electric Vehicle Charging

The inclusion of questions about electric vehicle charging points at question 10.3 is a welcome acknowledgement of how quickly the domestic charging infrastructure has expanded. The form now asks whether the property has an electric vehicle charger, what type it is, and whether the charging cable has to cross the public pavement. That last point is more significant than it might appear. A number of local authorities now require homeowners to obtain a licence before trailing a charging cable across the pavement, and failure to do so can result in enforcement action. The form prompts the seller to disclose any such licence or terms and conditions.

For practitioners, the key action point is to ensure that where an electric vehicle charger has been installed, the seller provides building regulation approvals for the installation. Electrical work of this nature is notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations, and a certificate from a registered competent person or a building control completion certificate should be available. If it is not, the same considerations around indemnity insurance that apply to other missing certificates will arise.

Heating Systems

The questions on heating systems at question 11.4 have been substantially expanded. The old form asked relatively basic questions about the type of heating. The new form goes further, asking sellers to specify when the heating system was installed, when the boiler was installed, whether the system has been replaced, whether it is currently working, and when it was last serviced. Sellers are also asked to provide compliance certificates and the latest inspection report.

The addition of heat pumps to the list of heating types reflects the growing prevalence of air source and ground source heat pumps in domestic properties. Heat pump installations carry their own compliance requirements, including MCS certification and building regulations approval, and practitioners should be alert to these when reviewing the form. Shared ground or air source heat pump arrangements, now covered at section 12, raise additional questions about maintenance responsibilities and cost sharing that will need to be addressed through further enquiries.

Drainage and Sewerage

The questions on private drainage at questions 11.5 to 11.7 have been expanded to reflect the regulatory changes introduced by the Environment Agency. Since January 2020, septic tanks that discharge directly to a watercourse have been non-compliant, and property owners are required to either connect to mains drainage, upgrade to a package treatment plant, or obtain a permit. The new form asks more detailed questions about the type of sewerage system, when it was installed, when it was last serviced or emptied, whether it discharges to ground or surface water, and whether it has an infiltration system.

These questions should be cross-referenced carefully with the water and drainage search results. A property that is shown on the water company’s records as not being connected to mains drainage should trigger close scrutiny of the seller’s answers to these questions. If the property has a septic tank that discharges to a watercourse, the buyer and their lender need to know, because the cost of replacement or upgrade can run into many thousands of pounds. This is an area where a proactive approach at the outset of the transaction can prevent serious problems at a later stage.

Environmental Matters and Japanese Knotweed

The environmental section has been refined with more granular questions on flooding types, flood defences, radon testing, and Japanese knotweed. The flooding questions now ask sellers to identify the specific type of flooding that has occurred, distinguishing between groundwater, sewer flooding, surface water, coastal flooding, river flooding, and other types. This level of detail is helpful for buyers and their insurers, who will want to understand the nature of the flood risk rather than simply knowing that flooding has occurred at some point.

The Japanese knotweed questions at 8.6 and 8.7 now explicitly ask whether a management and treatment plan is in place and whether a survey has been carried out. Given that the presence of Japanese knotweed can render a property unmortgageable without an appropriate treatment plan and insurance-backed guarantee, these questions deserve careful attention. Practitioners should cross-reference the seller’s answers with the environmental search, which will typically indicate whether Japanese knotweed has been identified in the vicinity of the property.

Structure and Presentation

Beyond the substantive changes, the sixth edition has been restructured for clarity. The definitions section has been expanded and moved to a more prominent position, the instructions for both sellers and buyers are clearer, and the form includes cross-references to a separate set of explanatory notes published by the Law Society. The explanatory notes are intended to help sellers understand what each question is asking, and practitioners should direct their clients to these notes when sending the form out for completion.

The requirement for all sellers to sign the form is more prominently stated, with space for up to four signatures. This is a useful reminder that where a property is jointly owned, all owners must sign. In the case of executors, administrators, or attorneys, the person acting in that capacity must sign, and the nature of their authority should be clear from section one.

Practical Tips for the Transition

Update Your Processes Now

The mandatory date of 1 March 2026 may feel comfortably distant, but the time to prepare is now. If your firm uses case management software with automated document generation, ensure the templates are updated to produce the sixth edition. If you send the TA6 to clients as part of an onboarding pack, update the pack. If you have standard covering letters that explain the form to clients, revise them to reflect the new questions. A few hours of preparation now will prevent confusion and delay when the switchover date arrives.

Train Your Team

The sixth edition introduces concepts that may be unfamiliar to some members of your team, particularly around solar panel leases, Feed-in Tariffs, Smart Export Guarantees, and private drainage compliance. Consider running a short training session or circulating a briefing note that highlights the new questions and explains what to look for. Paralegals and legal assistants who carry out the initial review of incoming TA6 forms need to know what the new questions are asking so they can identify issues early and escalate appropriately.

Review Your Standard Enquiries

Many firms maintain a set of standard additional enquiries that are raised alongside the TA6. Some of these may now be redundant because the new form covers the same ground. Others may need to be updated to reflect the new questions. For example, if you previously raised ad hoc enquiries about solar panels, electric vehicle charging, or private drainage, you may find that the sixth edition already asks the questions you need answered. Reviewing and rationalising your standard enquiries will reduce duplication and make the process more efficient for all parties.

Advise Seller Clients Carefully

The expanded form means sellers have more questions to answer and more documents to provide. This can feel overwhelming, particularly for elderly clients or those who have owned their property for a long time and may not have retained paperwork. A well-written covering letter or client guide that explains each section in plain English will help. Encourage sellers to gather their documents before starting the form, and reassure them that it is perfectly acceptable to answer “not known” where that is genuinely the case. What is not acceptable is leaving questions blank or providing answers that the seller knows to be inaccurate.

Cross-Reference Rigorously on the Buyer’s Side

The value of the TA6 on the buyer’s side lies not just in the answers themselves but in what they reveal when compared with other sources of information. A seller who says the property has never flooded, when the environmental search places it squarely within Flood Zone 3, warrants an additional enquiry. A seller who says no alterations have been carried out, when the estate agent’s photographs clearly show a loft conversion, needs to be challenged. The sixth edition gives practitioners more data points to work with, and that makes cross-referencing more important than ever.

Consider Lender Reporting Obligations

For practitioners acting on behalf of both buyer and lender, the expanded disclosures in the sixth edition may trigger reporting obligations under the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook. Matters such as solar panel roof leases, Japanese knotweed, flooding history, private drainage arrangements, and subsidence claims are all likely to be of interest to the lender. Review the Handbook requirements alongside the TA6 and ensure you are reporting everything that is required. Failure to do so exposes the firm to a claim from the lender as well as the buyer.

The expanded form gives practitioners more data points to work with, and that makes cross-referencing with searches, the title, and survey reports more important than ever.

Pitfalls to Avoid

A number of common mistakes arise in practice when dealing with the TA6, and the sixth edition introduces new opportunities for error alongside the old familiar ones. The most significant is the temptation to complete the form on the client’s behalf. However well-intentioned, filling in answers based on assumptions about the property is dangerous. The form must be completed by the seller from their own knowledge, and the solicitor’s role is to explain, review, and advise – not to answer.

Another common pitfall is failing to chase documents marked as “to follow.” The sixth edition, with its expanded requirements for solar panel documentation, heating system certificates, and drainage permits, will almost certainly generate more “to follow” responses than its predecessor. Each one needs to be diarised and chased. A file that reaches exchange with outstanding documents is a file that is not ready for exchange, and the consequences of proceeding without critical information fall on the practitioner who allowed it to happen.

Practitioners should also be wary of accepting the form at face value without a sense check. A property built in the 1930s where the seller has answered “no” to every question about alterations may be telling the truth, but it is more likely that work has been carried out at some point over the last ninety years. A gentle follow-up with the seller, perhaps asking whether any previous owners carried out work that they are aware of, can often elicit additional information that protects everyone involved.

Finally, do not overlook the signature requirement. The sixth edition, like its predecessor, requires all sellers to sign. A form signed by only one of two joint owners is incomplete. A form signed by an executor who has not provided the grant of probate raises questions about authority. These are basic points, but they are easy to miss under the pressure of a busy caseload, and they matter.

Looking Ahead

The sixth edition of the TA6 is a significant step forward. It reflects the reality of modern property ownership in a way that the previous edition could not, and it gives both buyers and sellers a better framework for disclosing and understanding the information that matters. The transition will require effort, but it is effort well spent. Practitioners who take the time to understand the new form, update their processes, and train their teams will find that it makes their work more efficient and their clients better protected.

The mandatory implementation date of 1 March 2026 is a hard deadline. From that date, the fifth edition should no longer be used. Practitioners who continue to use the old form after that date risk providing an inadequate level of service and failing to identify issues that the new form is specifically designed to uncover. The message is clear: familiarise yourself with the sixth edition now, prepare your practice for the change, and make sure your clients are ready too.

This article was prepared by MJP Conveyancing Ltd for the benefit of conveyancing practitioners. It does not constitute legal advice. Practitioners should refer to the Law Society’s explanatory notes and their own firm’s procedures when implementing the sixth edition.