What to Disclose When Selling a House in the UK

When you sell a house in the UK, the law expects you to tell the truth about your property, not just avoid outright lies. Sellers carry a genuine legal duty to disclose problems they know about, and getting this wrong can unravel a sale months or even years after completion. Non-disclosure isn't just an ethical issue, it's a legal one, backed by specific legislation that gives buyers real remedies when sellers hide the truth.

The main piece of law here is the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (the CPRs). These regulations make it illegal to give buyers a false or misleading impression of a property through action or omission. Before the CPRs tightened the rules, sellers could often rely on caveat emptor, the old principle that buyers must investigate a property themselves and can't complain later if they missed something. That principle still applies to matters a buyer could reasonably discover through a survey or inspection, but it no longer protects a seller who actively conceals a known defect or answers a direct question dishonestly.

Alongside the CPRs sits the Misrepresentation Act 1967, which allows a buyer to claim compensation, or in serious cases unwind the sale entirely, if they can show they relied on a false statement you made about the property. Crucially, buyers have up to six years from completion to bring a claim under this Act, so an issue you fail to mention now can resurface as a legal dispute long after you've moved out. This is one reason instructing a conveyancer early in the conveyancing process matters: they'll flag disclosure risks before contracts are exchanged, not after a buyer's solicitor starts asking awkward questions. Getting the legal groundwork right at the start saves considerable stress later.

The TA6 Property Information Form is the document at the centre of every seller disclosure obligation in England and Wales. Your conveyancer sends it to you early in the process, usually within the first week of instruction, and your answers form part of the legal pack that goes to the buyer's solicitor alongside contracts. Because the TA6 is a formal Law Society document, anything you state on it becomes evidence: if a statement turns out to be false, the buyer can point directly to your signed answers when making a claim.

The form runs to roughly 15 sections covering everything from boundaries and disputes to guarantees, notices, and environmental matters. Your conveyancer talks you through each section rather than leaving you to interpret legal questions alone, translating phrases like "adverse matters" or "restrictive covenants" into plain questions about your specific property. Where you're unsure of an answer, they'll help you word it accurately rather than guessing, which matters because a vague or evasive answer can look as bad as a false one if a dispute arises later.

The most common mistake sellers make is rushing through the form to keep the sale moving, ticking "no" to save time rather than checking old paperwork or thinking carefully about past problems. Another frequent error is forgetting about issues resolved years ago, such as a subsidence claim settled a decade back, on the assumption that it's fixed now so it doesn't count. It still counts. If you're unsure how conveyancing searches interact with your TA6 answers, for example whether a flood report contradicts something you've said, ask your conveyancer before you sign rather than after the buyer's solicitor queries it. A dedicated look at the TA6 form section by section can help if you want more detail before your appointment.

The TA6 form covers a wide range of ground, and it helps to think of your disclosure obligations as six broad categories rather than one long list. Some of these will not apply to your property at all, and that's fine, you simply answer honestly that the issue doesn't arise. Where an issue does apply, the golden rule is to disclose it clearly rather than hope it goes unnoticed. Surveys and searches catch far more than sellers expect, so omissions tend to surface anyway, just later and with less goodwill from the buyer.

Structural Issues and Property Condition

• Subsidence: Disclose any past or current subsidence, including insurance claims, underpinning work, or monitoring reports, even if the movement stopped years ago.
• Damp and timber decay: Rising damp, penetrating damp, dry rot, and woodworm treatments all need mentioning, along with any guarantees issued for the work.
• Roof problems: Leaks, missing tiles, or structural repairs to the roof should be disclosed along with dates and whether a professional carried out the work.
• Cracking and movement: Cosmetic cracks are usually fine to leave off, but anything a structural engineer has assessed should be included.

Building Work, Extensions, and Planning Permission

• Planning permission: Any extension, loft conversion, or outbuilding needs its planning permission and building regulations completion certificate referenced on the TA6.
• Permitted development: Work done under permitted development rights still needs disclosing, along with confirmation it fell within the size and height limits at the time.
• Missing certificates: If building regulations sign-off was never obtained, say so. Buyers often accept this if you offer to arrange indemnity insurance, typically costing £20 to £150 depending on the work.

Boundaries, Rights of Way, and Disputes

• Boundary agreements: Disclose any formal or informal agreements about fence lines, walls, or hedges, even handshake arrangements with neighbours.
• Rights of way: Shared driveways, footpaths crossing your land, or access rights granted to neighbours must be included.
• Neighbour disputes: Any past complaint, mediation, or legal correspondence about noise, boundaries, or behaviour needs disclosing, not just active court proceedings.

Flooding, Environmental Risks, and Japanese Knotweed

• Flooding history: Disclose any flooding from rivers, surface water, or drains, even a single incident, along with any resulting insurance claims.
• Japanese knotweed: State whether knotweed is present, has been treated, or has affected neighbouring land, including any management plans still in place.
• Contamination: Former industrial use, oil tank leaks, or asbestos reports should be mentioned if you're aware of them.

Services and Utilities

• Drainage: Confirm whether the property uses mains drainage, a septic tank, or a private sewage system, and disclose any known blockages or failures.
• Heating and electrics: Note the age of the boiler, any rewiring, and whether an electrician issued a certificate for recent work.

Fixtures, Fittings, and the TA10 Form

• What's included: The separate TA10 form lists exactly what stays, from light fittings to garden sheds, removing ambiguity at completion.
• Common disputes: Integrated appliances, curtain poles, and garden ornaments cause the most arguments, so mark each one clearly rather than leaving blanks.

If you're selling a flat or another leasehold property, the standard TA6 form isn't enough on its own. You'll also complete the TA7 Leasehold Information Form, which asks for details a freehold seller never has to provide, largely because a lease creates an ongoing relationship between you, the freeholder, and any managing agent that a buyer needs to understand before they commit.

Ground rent and service charges sit at the centre of the TA7. You'll need to state the current annual ground rent, whether it increases on a fixed schedule (some older leases double every 10 to 15 years, which can make a property hard to mortgage), and the last few years of service charge accounts. Buyers' solicitors scrutinise these figures closely, because unexpectedly high charges or a doubling ground rent clause can derail a mortgage application even after an offer has been accepted.

You also need to disclose any major works planned or already notified by the freeholder, such as a section 20 notice for roof replacement or lift refurbishment, since these can add thousands of pounds to a buyer's costs shortly after they move in. Lease length matters too: anything under 80 years typically triggers lender caution and higher extension costs, so flag the remaining term honestly rather than let it surface during valuation. Finally, disclose whether you've been involved in a right-to-manage claim or a dispute with the freeholder, since ongoing disagreements can affect a buyer's ability to get consent for future works. Leasehold conveyancing generally takes longer than freehold sales precisely because of this extra layer of information, so raising it early keeps your timeline realistic.

Getting caught out after completion is far more common, and far more expensive, than most sellers expect. If a buyer discovers you knew about a problem, subsidence, a boundary dispute, damp, and didn't mention it, they have several routes to make you pay for it, and none of them are quick or pleasant to deal with.

Under the Misrepresentation Act 1967, a buyer can claim damages to cover the cost of putting the problem right, and in the most serious cases, seek rescission, effectively unwinding the sale and forcing you to buy the property back. Claims under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 can also lead to prosecution by trading standards, though civil claims for compensation are far more common in practice. Non-disclosure claims typically range from around £5,000 for a minor undisclosed defect to £50,000 or more where structural issues or a serious leasehold problem, like an unreported major works bill, only came to light after completion.

Non-disclosure also has knock-on effects on insurance. If you fail to mention a flood history or subsidence and the buyer later needs to claim, their insurer can refuse to pay out on discovering the property's true history wasn't disclosed at the point of sale, leaving the buyer without cover exactly when they need it. This sits separately from any claim they might bring against you directly, and it tends to harden a dispute rather than resolve it quietly. The safest position, in every case, is disclosing the issue and letting the price or negotiation reflect it, rather than gambling that nobody will notice.

Not every question on the TA6 has a clean yes or no answer, and sellers often worry that admitting uncertainty looks worse than guessing. In practice, the opposite is usually true. An honest "not known" is a legitimate answer under the form's guidance, provided it reflects genuine uncertainty rather than an attempt to avoid a difficult truth you actually know.

Historic issues you've already resolved deserve a slightly different approach. If your property had a damp problem five years ago that a specialist fixed with a guarantee, disclose the original issue and attach the guarantee and any completion certificate. This shows the buyer the problem was real, taken seriously, and properly closed out, which tends to reassure rather than alarm a cautious purchaser. Trying to leave a resolved issue off the form entirely, on the theory that it no longer applies, is one of the most common mistakes sellers make and one of the easiest for a buyer's surveyor to uncover.

It's also worth understanding how surveys interact with your disclosure duty. A survey doesn't replace your obligation to disclose, and the two work in parallel: your TA6 answers tell the buyer what you know, while the survey tells them what a professional can observe independently. Where the two disagree, for instance you've stated no damp but the surveyor flags a damp reading, expect further questions from the buyer's solicitor. If you're ever unsure how to phrase an answer, particularly around a genuinely complicated history, choosing the right conveyancing solicitor to guide you through it is worth doing before you sign rather than after a dispute starts.

A good conveyancer does far more than pass your TA6 form along to the buyer's solicitor. They review every answer against what they know about the property from the title register and any indemnity policies already in place, flagging inconsistencies before they become a buyer's problem, or yours, months down the line.

Many conveyancers now offer pre-marketing legal packs, preparing your TA6, TA10, title documents, and any supporting evidence before you even list the property. This speeds up the sale considerably, since buyers' solicitors often raise their first enquiries within days of receiving a complete pack rather than the usual two to three weeks it takes when documents arrive piecemeal. It also gives you a chance to gather proof, like a subsidence guarantee or planning approval, while you still have time, rather than scrambling once a buyer's solicitor asks a pointed question.

Instructing a conveyancer early, ideally before you accept an offer, reduces your disclosure risk considerably. They'll tell you honestly whether something needs stating on the form, help you word tricky answers accurately, and make sure supporting paperwork is ready to go. Costs vary depending on your property and location, so it's worth checking how much conveyancing costs before you instruct anyone, since fixed-fee and no-sale-no-fee options both exist. Honest disclosure protects you legally and tends to speed up your sale rather than slow it down, since buyers who trust your answers are less likely to renegotiate or pull out after a survey. When you're ready to instruct someone, you can compare conveyancing quotes from vetted, regulated conveyancers through Money Saving Advisors.