TA6 6th Edition vs 5th Edition: What's Changed for Property Sellers (2026)

Published July 2026. Applies to England & Wales. Scotland has a separate conveyancing system and does not use the TA6 form.

If you're selling a home in 2026, your solicitor will send you a TA6 Property Information Form to complete, and it will look noticeably shorter than the one a neighbour who sold in 2024 had to wrestle with. That's not an accident. After a two-year row that split the conveyancing profession, the Law Society replaced the unpopular 5th edition with a slimmed-down 6th edition, which became the required form for accredited firms on 30 March 2026. This guide explains exactly what changed, what you no longer have to fill in, and (the part that catches sellers out) why a shorter form does not mean less legal responsibility.

In Brief

The TA6 (6th edition) is the Law Society's property information form that sellers complete when selling a home in England and Wales. It replaced the widely criticised 5th edition and became mandatory for firms accredited under the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) on 30 March 2026. The headline change is length: the 6th edition drops to 15 sections from 25, removing the "material information" questions that had ballooned the 5th edition to some 32 pages.

Topics like council tax, asking price, tenure and accessibility are gone, because they belong at the marketing stage, not the legal one. The leasehold form (TA7) was updated too. What a quick summary won't tell you is why it changed, whether you have to switch mid-sale, and the crucial catch: fewer questions doesn't reduce your duty to answer the remaining ones honestly.

TA6 5th edition vs 6th edition at a glance

Here's the practical difference between the two forms, side by side:

In short, the 6th edition is a deliberate step back toward the simpler form conveyancers were used to before 2024, retaining the core legal enquiries but stripping out the marketing-stage duplication that made the 5th edition so unpopular.

Why the 5th edition was scrapped

To understand the 6th edition, it helps to know what went wrong with the 5th.

Launched in March 2024, the 5th edition tried to fold "material information" (the details estate agents are expected to give buyers at the marketing stage, such as council tax band, tenure and known restrictions) into the same form solicitors use for contract-stage legal enquiries. The intention was reasonable: get key facts to buyers earlier and reduce fall-throughs. The execution was not.

The form swelled to around 32 pages, and many conveyancers felt it pushed marketing-stage duties onto solicitors and sellers, creating duplication and new liability.

The backlash was fierce. Conveyancers, organised through a profession-wide campaign group, forced a Special General Meeting of the Law Society in July 2024. The Law Society went back to the drawing board, gathered feedback from over 1,200 participants, and landed on a "two-form" approach: keep the legal enquiries in a leaner TA6, and handle marketing-stage "material information" separately rather than bolting it onto the seller's legal form. The result is the 6th edition.

One current wrinkle worth knowing: the separate Material Information Form the Law Society had proposed is optional and, as of mid-2026, effectively paused. The trading-standards guidance that defined "material information" for marketing was withdrawn in 2025 while the underlying consumer-protection rules were being reformed, so further work depends on new guidance emerging. For you as a seller, the practical upshot is simple: you complete the leaner TA6, and your estate agent handles the marketing-stage disclosure.

What was actually removed in the 6th edition

The 6th edition didn't just get shorter for the sake of it; it removed specific topics that duplicated information available elsewhere. Here's what dropped off the seller's form and why:

What has not changed is the heart of the form. The 6th edition still asks the questions that have always mattered legally: boundaries and disputes, notices and proposals affecting the property, alterations and building work (and the guarantees, planning permissions and building-regulation sign-offs behind them), services and utilities, and environmental issues such as flooding and Japanese knotweed. Those core enquiries are exactly why the form exists, and exactly where sellers get into trouble if they answer carelessly (more on that below).

The TA7 leasehold form changed too

If you're selling a leasehold property, you'll also complete a TA7 Leasehold Information Form, and this was updated to a new 5th edition at the same time. The main improvements:

• It now caters for leasehold houses, garages and maisonettes, not just the traditional flat. That's a useful fix, because leasehold houses were an awkward fit for the old form.
• It was redesigned for a clearer, more logical flow, with simplified questions.
• It removes information now captured in the TA6 6th edition, so you're not answering the same thing twice.
• The building-safety section was clarified to apply only to blocks of flats, and the "qualifying lease" question was removed to avoid duplicating the leaseholder deed of certificate, and replaced with a question on whether the property sits in a "relevant building" under the Building Safety Act.

Accredited firms must use the TA7 5th edition alongside the TA6 6th edition from 30 March 2026. If leasehold itself is new territory for you, our guide to leasehold vs freehold explains the wider ownership picture.

When did the 6th edition become mandatory, and what if I already started?

For firms accredited under the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) the 6th edition became mandatory on 30 March 2026. From that date the 4th and 5th editions were withdrawn. But the rule is tied to when your solicitor was instructed, not the calendar date alone, so transition cases are straightforward once you see the logic:

So if you're starting a sale today, you'll simply use the 6th edition: there's nothing to decide. The transition question only affects sellers who were already mid-transaction when the switch happened, and in almost all cases the answer is: finish on the form you started, unless your solicitor advises otherwise. If you're unsure which edition applies to your sale, ask the solicitor handling your file. It takes them seconds to confirm.

Does a shorter form mean less risk for sellers?

This is the most important (and most misunderstood) point in the whole change, so read this section even if you skip the rest.

No. A shorter TA6 does not reduce your legal responsibility. The 6th edition removed duplication, not duty. Every question that remains, you must still answer truthfully and completely to the best of your knowledge. If you give a false or misleading answer, even carelessly not just misleadingly, or stay conveniently silent about something you're asked, a buyer who relied on it can bring a misrepresentation claim against you after completion, and those claims can run to many thousands of pounds in damages plus costs. Sellers also have a strict ongoing duty to update the TA6 form if any information changes between completing the form and exchanging contracts.

Your solicitor is not responsible for verifying that your answers are accurate. They'll advise you on completing the form properly and query anything that looks inconsistent, but the responsibility for the answers is yours.

Worked example. You're selling and the form asks about environmental issues, including Japanese knotweed. You've noticed some in a back corner but tick "No" to keep the sale simple. Two years on, the buyer discovers it, gets a specialist report showing it was there at the point of sale, and sues. The fact that the 6th edition is shorter than the 5th makes no difference at all: you were asked, you knew, and you gave a false answer. The safe course when you genuinely don't know is to answer "Not known" honestly rather than guess or conceal. Our article on Japanese knotweed cases rising in the UK shows how often this specific issue ends up in court.

If you want the fuller picture of how the TA6 fits into the wider set of documents you'll complete, see our guide to protocol forms in conveyancing.

Selling in 2026? Get a fixed-fee conveyancer who already knows the new forms

Form changes like this are exactly where an experienced conveyancer earns their fee: knowing which edition applies, spotting inconsistent answers before they become claims, and steering the paperwork without slowing your sale. At Bird & Co, our conveyancing is fixed-fee with no hidden extras, so you know your legal costs up front, and you deal directly with a qualified conveyancing solicitor (not a call centre), so questions about the TA6 or TA7 get a real answer from the person handling your file.

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Or call our Newark office on 01636 650880 or email enquiries@birdandco.co.uk. You can also read more about our conveyancing service.

Frequently Asked Questions

I started my sale before 30 March 2026 on the old TA6. Do I have to redo it on the new form?

Almost certainly not. The mandatory switch applies to matters where the solicitor was instructed on or after 30 March 2026. If you were instructed earlier and had already completed an older edition, you can generally carry on with it for that transaction. If your sale later falls through and you relist, the fresh instruction would use the 6th edition. Your solicitor can confirm in seconds which applies to you.

The new form is shorter, so does that mean I can disclose less about my property?

No. The 6th edition removed duplicated questions, not your duty to be honest. You must still answer every remaining question truthfully and completely to the best of your knowledge. Giving a false or misleading answer, or concealing something you're asked about, can expose you to a misrepresentation claim after completion, regardless of which edition of the form you used.

Why isn't council tax (or the EPC, or asking price) on the TA6 anymore?

Because those belong at the marketing stage, not the legal one. Your estate agent handles marketing information, and details like council tax band and the EPC are already available or produced when the property is listed. The 6th edition deliberately strips out this duplication so the seller's legal form focuses on genuine legal enquiries.

I'm selling a leasehold flat. Which forms will I complete?

You'll complete both the TA6 (6th edition) and the TA7 Leasehold Information Form (5th edition). The updated TA7 now also caters for leasehold houses, maisonettes and garages, has a clearer layout, and removes questions now answered in the TA6 so you're not repeating yourself.

What should I do if I genuinely don't know the answer to a question?

Answer "Not known" honestly rather than guessing or leaving it blank. An honest "not known" is very different from a confident false answer; the risk lies in stating something as fact when it isn't, or in concealing something you do know. If a question is unclear, ask your solicitor how to approach it before you commit an answer.

Does my solicitor check that my TA6 answers are correct?

No. That responsibility is yours. Your solicitor will advise you on completing the form properly and will raise a query if an answer looks inconsistent or obviously wrong, but they don't independently verify the facts about your property. This is exactly why it pays to take the form seriously and answer carefully.

Does any of this apply in Scotland?

No. Scotland has a separate conveyancing system and doesn't use the TA6 or TA7 forms at all. Everything in this guide applies to England and Wales.

Related Articles

• What Are Protocol Forms in Conveyancing?
• Leasehold vs Freehold: Things to Look Out For
• Japanese Knotweed Cases up by 28% in Five Years in the UK
• What Is a Conveyancing Solicitor?
• How Long Does It Take to Move House in the UK?

This article is general information about conveyancing in England and Wales and is not legal advice. Property information forms are completed under your own responsibility. For advice on your specific sale, speak to a qualified conveyancing solicitor.