What Happens If You Lie on the TA6? Property Misrepresentation Claims Explained (2026)

Published July 2026. Applies to England & Wales - Scotland has a separate system of property law, and the TA6 is not used there.

When you sell a home in England or Wales, you fill in a form called the TA6 - the Law Society's Property Information Form - and you sign to confirm your answers are true. Most sellers rush through it. But a wrong answer isn't just an administrative slip: if a buyer relies on it and later discovers the truth, it can turn into a property misrepresentation claim worth tens of thousands of pounds - occasionally, as one 2025 case showed, the unwinding of the entire sale. This guide explains what actually happens if a TA6 answer is false, where the line sits between an honest mistake and a lie, and what both buyers and sellers should do.

In Brief

If you knowingly give a false answer on the TA6 - or give an answer you have no real grounds to believe is true - and the buyer relies on it, you can be sued for misrepresentation. The usual remedy is damages for "diminution in value": the gap between what the buyer paid and what the property was actually worth with the problem disclosed. In serious fraud cases a court can go further and rescind the sale entirely. Buyers generally have six years to bring a claim. What an AI summary won't tell you is the crucial legal nuance: an honest "not known" is usually safe, an honest-but-careless "No" often isn't, and a deliberate "No" can be fraud. This guide walks through all of it - with two real UK cases, worked numbers, and what to do if you're on either side.

What the TA6 actually commits you to

The TA6 Property Information Form (the current version is the 6th edition, 2025) is part of the Law Society's conveyancing protocol. It's where a seller answers standard questions about the property - boundaries, disputes and complaints, alterations and building work, guarantees, damp, flooding, Japanese knotweed, and more. The buyer's solicitor relies on those answers, and the buyer commits to the purchase partly on the strength of them.

The baseline rule in English property law is caveat emptor - "buyer beware." A seller isn't generally obliged to volunteer every flaw. But the moment you answer a TA6 question, that answer becomes a representation the buyer is entitled to rely on. Say nothing, and caveat emptor largely protects you. Give a false answer, and you step outside that protection - because you've made a positive statement that turned out to be untrue. That single distinction is why the TA6 matters so much, and it's covered in more depth in our guide to protocol forms in conveyancing.

The four kinds of answer: honest, innocent, negligent, fraudulent

Not every wrong answer is a "lie," and the law treats them very differently. The key statute is the Misrepresentation Act 1967, backed by the common law tort of deceit for fraud. Here's how the four situations compare:

The most important - and most misunderstood - row is negligent misrepresentation under section 2(1). Here the burden of proof is reversed: once the buyer shows the statement was false and they relied on it, it's the seller who must prove they had reasonable grounds to believe it was true. If you can't, you're liable for damages as though you'd lied deliberately. "I didn't actually mean to mislead anyone" is not, on its own, a defence.

"Not known" vs "No": where the honest line sits

This is where sellers most often trip up. On many TA6 questions you can answer "Yes," "No," or "Not known" - and choosing the wrong one turns a safe answer into a risky one.

• "Not known" is your friend when it's true. If you genuinely don't know whether the property has ever had, say, a boundary dispute with a previous owner, "not known" is honest and generally safe. It puts the buyer on notice to investigate rather than assuring them of a fact.
• "No" is a positive assertion. Ticking "No" doesn't mean "not as far as I've noticed" - the law reads it as "this is not the case." If you have any real reason to think otherwise, "No" is the dangerous box.

The knotweed case of Downing v Henderson (2023) is the textbook illustration. The seller, Mr Henderson, ticked "No" to the TA6 question on Japanese knotweed when selling a roughly £700,000 property in south-west London. After completion the buyer found knotweed in the garden; expert evidence showed it had previously grown up to around two metres tall and had been treated with herbicide. The judge rejected the seller's defence, finding he could not genuinely have believed the property was unaffected. He was ordered to pay £32,000 in damages (the property's diminution in value plus the cost of investigation and excavation) and his buyer's legal costs of up to £95,000 - with his own costs on top. The lesson the court effectively drew: only tick "No" to knotweed if you are certain. If in doubt, "not known" is the honest answer. Our Japanese knotweed guide covers that specific risk in more detail.

How much is a misrepresentation claim worth? "Diminution in value" explained

The standard measure of damages is diminution in value - the difference between what the buyer paid and what the property was actually worth with the defect known. It compensates the buyer for overpaying for something that wasn't as described.

Worked example. You buy a house for £350,000. The seller answered "No" to the TA6 question about whether the property had ever flooded - but, in fact, they'd had a serious flood two winters earlier and knew it. Once that history is on the record, a surveyor assesses the property's true value at the time of sale as £320,000. Your headline claim is the £30,000 shortfall in value. On top of that you may recover reasonable consequential losses - for example the cost of investigating the problem, and in some cases remediation - provided they flow from the misrepresentation and you've acted reasonably to limit them.

Damages are the usual outcome. But in the most serious cases a court can order rescission - unwinding the sale so the property goes back to the seller and the price is repaid. That's exactly what happened in Patarkatsishvili v Woodward-Fisher [2025] EWHC 265 (Ch), the "moth mansion" case. The buyers paid £32.5 million for a Notting Hill house in 2019, then found a severe moth infestation traced to wool insulation the seller had installed - and to pest-control reports the seller had received, and concealed, before the sale. The seller's "No" answers to pre-contract enquiries about vermin and defects were found to be fraudulent.

The High Court ordered rescission: the property returns to the seller, who must repay the price (secured by a charge in the buyers' favour) plus substantial damages covering items such as the stamp duty and eradication costs. Rescission is exceptional - it can be lost through delay, or where the parties can no longer be restored to their original positions - but the case is a stark reminder of how far the courts will go where fraud is proven. (As with any High Court decision, cases of this size are commonly tested on appeal.)

The clock: how long a buyer has to claim

Misrepresentation claims are subject to the Limitation Act 1980. In broad terms:

The headline is six years. But section 32 is the sting in the tail for a dishonest seller: where the misrepresentation was fraudulent, or the problem was deliberately concealed, the clock doesn't even start until the buyer discovers it (or reasonably could have). A seller who papers over a problem and hopes six quiet years will bury it can be badly mistaken. Limitation is technical and highly fact-specific, so anyone near a deadline should take advice quickly rather than assume the door has closed - or that it's still open.

Buyer: what to do if you think you were misled

If you've completed and something doesn't add up, work through this in order:

1. Preserve the evidence. Keep the signed TA6 and all Property Information Form replies, the estate agent's particulars, emails, and anything showing what you were told. The false answer is the heart of the case.
2. Establish what the seller knew - and when. A claim turns on the seller's knowledge or lack of reasonable grounds. Neighbours, previous tradespeople, guarantee paperwork, and local authority records can all help.
3. Get the loss valued. A surveyor or valuer can put a figure on the diminution in value - the number your claim is built around.
4. Check the clock. Note your exchange date and work out where you sit against the six-year period (and whether s.32 helps if there was concealment).
5. Take early legal advice. A solicitor can tell you whether the answer was innocent, negligent or fraudulent - which decides whether you're likely looking at damages or, rarely, rescission, and whether a claim is proportionate to the loss.

Seller: what to do if you're worried you got an answer wrong

Honest sellers make honest mistakes, and realising after the event that a TA6 answer may have been wrong is unsettling. The good news is that an honest, reasonable belief that turns out mistaken is not fraud, and often not actionable at all.

• If you spot the error before completion, correct it. Tell your solicitor immediately so the reply can be updated. Correcting a mistake before the buyer commits usually removes the problem entirely.
• Don't guess to fill a gap. If you truly don't know the answer, "not known" is safer and more honest than a confident "No" you can't stand behind.
• Keep your reasoning. If you answered based on a survey, a guarantee, or a professional's advice, keep it - that evidence is exactly what supports a "reasonable grounds" position if you're ever questioned.
• Consider indemnity insurance where it fits. For some issues (a missing building regulations certificate, for instance) an indemnity insurance policy can resolve matters cleanly - though it is never a substitute for answering the form honestly.

Get the TA6 right the first time with Bird & Co

Whether you're a seller who wants to complete the Property Information Form correctly, or a buyer who suspects you weren't told the whole story, the value of a careful conveyancer is hard to overstate - the TA6 is one of the easiest places in a transaction to create, or avoid, a very expensive problem. At Bird & Co our conveyancing is fixed-fee with no hidden extras, and you deal directly with a qualified conveyancing solicitor rather than a call centre, so the person guiding your answers is the person who understands the risk. We're accredited under the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS), hold the Lexcel practice-management standard, are regulated by the SRA, and are rated 4.9 out of 5 on Trustpilot from over 1,100 reviews.

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Or talk it through with our team on 01636 650880 or at enquiries@birdandco.co.uk. You can also read more about our conveyancing service.

Frequently Asked Questions

I found a serious problem the day after moving in that the seller ticked "No" to on the TA6 - can I make them pay? Possibly. If their answer was false, you relied on it, and you've suffered a loss, you may have a misrepresentation claim. The strength of it depends on what the seller knew or ought to have known. Preserve the signed TA6 and any evidence of their knowledge, get the loss valued, and take legal advice early - the day-one discovery is exactly the scenario these claims are built for.

Is a seller allowed to answer "not known" to avoid getting caught out? Yes - if it's genuinely true. "Not known" is a legitimate, honest answer when you really don't know, and it's often safer than a "No" you can't fully stand behind. What you can't do is answer "not known" as a smokescreen for something you actually do know. That crosses into concealment, and a court can treat it as seriously as a false "No."

The seller says they "didn't realise" - does that get them off the hook? Not automatically. Under section 2(1) of the Misrepresentation Act 1967 the burden is on the seller to prove they had reasonable grounds to believe their answer was true. If they can't, an honest-but-careless answer can still make them liable for damages. Genuinely not realising only helps them if their belief was also reasonable.

Can a misrepresentation claim actually cancel the whole sale? Rarely, but yes - it's called rescission, and it usually requires fraud plus a court being satisfied the parties can still be restored to their positions. The 2025 "moth mansion" case is the striking recent example, where a £32.5 million sale was unwound. For the vast majority of claims, though, the realistic remedy is damages for diminution in value, not undoing the sale.

How long after completion can I still bring a claim? Usually six years from exchange of contracts under the Limitation Act 1980. If the seller was fraudulent or deliberately concealed the problem, section 32 can delay the start of that six-year clock until you discovered - or reasonably could have discovered - the truth. Because limitation is technical, check your dates with a solicitor rather than assuming you're in or out of time.

I'm the seller and I think I answered a TA6 question wrong before completion - what should I do? Tell your conveyancer straight away so the answer can be corrected before the buyer is committed. A mistake put right before completion usually ends the matter. The problems arise when a wrong answer stands, the buyer relies on it, and only surfaces afterwards - so speed and honesty are your best protection.

Does any of this apply in Scotland? No. Scotland has its own system of property law, a different sale process built around "missives," and different rules on seller disclosure and misrepresentation. The TA6 and the framework in this guide are an England & Wales matter.

Related Articles

• What Are Protocol Forms in Conveyancing?
• Japanese Knotweed Cases up by 28% in Five Years in the UK
• What Is Indemnity Insurance?
• What Is Conveyancing?

This article is general information about conveyancing and misrepresentation law in England and Wales and is not legal advice. Misrepresentation claims are highly fact-specific - for advice on your own situation, whether you are buying or selling, speak to a qualified conveyancing or property litigation solicitor.