Getting sale-ready

Getting ready to sell your home can feel daunting, but a little preparation goes a long way. With the right approach, you can showcase your property at its best, appeal to serious buyers, and set yourself up for a successful and swift sale.

What do I need to prepare?

Aside from getting your property picture perfect for the agent’s listing and keeping it (unrealistically!) clean for viewings, there is a fair amount of paperwork involved in selling your home. Preparation is key, even before marketing the property for sale. The more information you can provide to your solicitor at the outset, the better chance you have at reducing the number of enquiries from the buyer’s solicitor, and the time it takes dealing with these.

Fittings & Contents Form (TA10)

This is a standard Law Society questionnaire that you will be asked to complete. You can start by looking at all of the items in your home i.e. curtains, blinds, carpets, fitted units, white goods, garden items etc and decide what you are leaving behind and what you will need / want to remove.

There is also space on the form to include a price should you wish to offer any items for sale. If a price is agreed, this can be added to the contract and collected from your buyer on completion.

Property Information Form (TA6)

This is the other standard Law Society questionnaire that you will need to complete. Whilst it is lengthy, you can use the questions as a useful prompt to provide paperwork to your solicitor.

From 30 March 2026 the new 6^th Edition of the form will become mandatory. Your solicitor will provide you with the latest version to use.

What must the seller disclose?

Boundaries and Land Ownership discrepancies

You should have a look at your garden and the front of the property and consider what walls/fences/hedges you have and who has maintained or repaired them during your ownership.

Your deeds may not necessarily confirm the legal position and so what has happened in practice is still important.

You should also look at the title plan to see if this is correct or whether there is any discrepancy and/or any additional parcels of land that should be included in the sale i.e. did you purchase an extra strip of land from your neighbour at a later date or did you buy a garage/parking space located nearby?

Planning permissions listed building consents and building regulation approvals

If you have made any alterations or improvements to your home such as loft conversions, removal of walls and/or extensions over the years, you should locate copies of all the plans, planning permissions, listed building consents (if applicable) and building regulation approvals. This also applies to any replacement windows, doors and conservatories. You can always check the council’s planning portal online or contact your original installer or engineer to see if they can provide you with duplicates. If you are struggling to locate a certificate, we would advise you not to contact the local authority without speaking to us first.

Guarantees and warranties

This applies to damp proofing, timber treatment, boiler installation, electrics, windows/doors and any other internal appliances. If there is a warranty or guarantee available, the buyer may be able to take over the benefit on completion.

Access and Maintenance Responsibilities

If access to your home is via a private or unadopted road, not maintained by the local authority, your buyer will need to understand how this works in practice. You should gather the information for the person/company that deals with management. Your solicitor may need to apply for a management pack, so you should locate your most recent service/estate charge demand (if applicable) or liaise with the person who deals with the repairs.

Private drainage

if your property is not connected to mains sewerage and instead, you rely on a septic tank, you may wish to arrange for a local drainage company to inspect the system and check it complies with the general binding rules. If a system doesn’t comply this can delay a sale so sometime it is prudent to resolve the issue before commencing with marketing the property.

Heating

Whilst there is no legal obligation to service your heating system (unless the property is tenanted) most surveyors suggest a system is serviced and this can delay sales. It can be prudent to arrange a service if one hasn’t been undertaken in the last year.

Leasehold flats

If your property is leasehold, you will also be asked to complete a third questionnaire known as Leasehold Information Form (TA7). A lot of the information will be set out in the lease and will be provided in the management pack that we obtain from the landlord or managing agents. If you own a share of the freehold and there are no managing owners appointed, you should engage with the person who deals with the day to day management in the building early on, so that they can assist with providing the relevant information.

It is really important to take the time to complete these forms to the best of your knowledge and belief. Your solicitor can then review the documents in good time and pre-empt any enquiries they think may arise. This is a good opportunity to iron out any issues or concerns that you think may crop up or that may have arisen when you purchased the property you are now selling.

If you are unsure or have any queries about disclosing certain information, you should seek advice from your solicitor as soon as possible.

Are you ready to sell?

We are experienced in helping clients sell their properties. Our aim is to provide our clients with clear bespoke advice and move the transaction from inception to exchange seamlessly and efficiently. We know that every property is different and our highly experienced residential property team at Cripps will support you through the process.