Items marked “only if it applies” are an answer either way: a buyer needs to know that a home has no septic tank or listed status just as much as one that has.
Identity and anti-money-laundering checks
3 items
Before we can act for you, the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 require us to identify every owner who is selling and to verify that identity. Once a buyer is agreed, we check the buyer too.
- Photo identification for every owner named on the title: a passport or a photocard driving licence
- Proof of address for every owner, such as a council tax or utility letter from the last three months
- Selling on someone else’s behalf: the registered lasting power of attorney or, for an estate, the grant of probate or letters of administration only if it applies
Energy Performance Certificate
2 items
A certificate must be commissioned before the home is marketed, and its rating appears in every advert. A certificate stays valid for ten years, so one from a past sale may still count.
- Checked whether the home already has a certificate under ten years old
- A current certificate in hand, or a new assessment booked before any marketing
The title
3 items
The buyer’s conveyancer checks who owns the home, and what goes with it, against HM Land Registry. Having the title to hand early shows up a boundary or a name that needs putting right while there is still time.
- The title number, or official copies of the title and the title plan
- A home never registered: the title deeds, and who holds them only if it applies
- A conveyancer chosen, with their contact details
Material information, Part A
2 items
Part A is what every listing has to show from the first day. Of its items, these two are yours to confirm.
- The council tax band, as the Valuation Office Agency lists it
- Tenure, freehold or leasehold, and the papers that show it
Material information, Part B
8 items
Part B applies to every home: how it is built and how it is served. Buyers want these answers before they book a viewing.
- How the home is built: stone, brick, timber frame, or any non-standard construction
- Electricity supply, and any solar panels or battery
- Water supply: mains or private
- Sewerage: mains drains, a septic tank or a treatment plant
- Heating and hot water: gas, oil, electric or a heat pump
- Broadband: the kind of connection the home has
- Mobile signal indoors, on the networks you use
- Parking: a drive, a garage, a permit or on the street
Material information, Part C
8 items
Part C covers what touches some homes only. Where an item does not touch yours, mark it so: a buyer needs that answer too.
- Building safety: any known issue with cladding, structure or materials only if it applies
- Restrictions: a conservation area, a listed building, protected trees or covenants only if it applies
- Rights and easements: a shared drive, a right of way, a neighbour’s access only if it applies
- Flood risk: any flooding at the home, and the Natural Resources Wales check for the postcode only if it applies
- Coastal erosion risk only if it applies
- Planning permissions or proposed developments nearby that a buyer should know about only if it applies
- Accessibility and adaptations: ramps, a stair lift, a level-access shower only if it applies
- Coal mining: whether the home sits over old workings, and any repairs for subsidence only if it applies
Guarantees, warranties and certificates
9 items
The property information form (TA6) asks for each of these. Finding them now saves weeks once a buyer is agreed.
- Replacement windows or doors: the installer’s compliance certificate only if it applies
- Boiler or heating system: the installation certificate and the service history only if it applies
- Electrical work: certificates for rewiring or new circuits only if it applies
- Damp-proofing, timber treatment or wall-tie work: the guarantee only if it applies
- Roof work: any guarantee only if it applies
- Extensions, conversions or removed walls: planning permission and building regulations completion certificates only if it applies
- A home under ten years old: the new-home warranty only if it applies
- Solar panels: the installation certificate and any agreement over the roof space only if it applies
- Cavity wall or loft insulation: the guarantee only if it applies
Leasehold
4 items · Shown in the account when the home is leasehold.
For a flat or a leasehold house, the buyer’s conveyancer asks the landlord or managing agent for leasehold information on the standard form LPE1. Start early: it is often the slowest paper in a sale.
- The lease, and how many years are left on it
- The landlord (the freeholder) and any managing agent, with their contact details
- The latest papers from the managing agent: buildings insurance and any planned major works
- The landlord’s consent for any alterations you have made only if it applies
The two forms
2 items
Your conveyancer sends these standard forms once a buyer is agreed. Answering them early, and carefully, does more than anything else to keep a chain moving.
- The property information form (TA6), answered
- The fittings and contents form (TA10): what stays and what goes
