Key takeaways
Understand key property documents: EPCs, protocol forms, and transfer deeds
Be prepared for identity checks and anti-money laundering procedures
Ensure your conveyancer completes all necessary property searches (local, water, drainage, environmental)
Know your insurance needs, including potential indemnity insurance
There’s a lot to do when it comes to buying or selling a property, going to viewings, negotiating offers, and choosing a conveyancer. Then there’s the documents and paperwork.
From protocol forms and title deeds to TR1 and TP1 transfer deeds, there’s quite a paper trail involved when moving home.
We’re here to break down all those important documents that you might come across when you’re on the move – we’ll walk you through what each one means in clear terms.
An Energy Performance Certificate, or EPC, measures the energy efficiency of a property on a scale of A to G – with A being the most energy efficient and G the worst. Homes with the lowest fuel bills are those that are most energy efficient. Estate agents should provide the energy efficiency rating of a property in the listing details. Additionally, the EPC provides recommendations on how to improve the home's energy efficiency to save you money and protect the environment.
All buyers and their conveyancers will want certain information when someone sells a house. In order to standardise this process, the Law Society created the following forms to ensure everyone provides the same information in the same format:
LPE stands for Leasehold Property Enquiry. If you are selling a leasehold property, you won't be the only one who needs to complete a form containing standard information, your landlord, or managing agent will as well. In most cases, this is a chargeable service.
Once an offer has been accepted on a property, then the estate agent prepares a memorandum of sale containing the following information:
This is then sent by the estate agent to the seller’s conveyancer and the buyer’s conveyancer. It isn’t a legally binding document but is used to pass information to get the conveyancing process started.
All the professionals you deal with during a property transaction will need to verify your identity.
Unfortunately, criminals see the buying and selling process as a way to launder money and they are always inventing new ways to infiltrate the system. Confirming your identity is a key part to preventing this kind of criminal behaviour and is a requirement of property professionals under the Anti-Money Laundering Regulations.
For UK residents, the most common evidence of identity will be one of the following original documents – copies are usually not accepted:
During your property transaction, you will be asked to sign a contract. Up until that point, it is still possible for any individual to change their minds without incurring any penalties. However, once both parties have signed their SPA and made an “exchange of contracts”, they are legally obliged to proceed with the sale and purchase of the property.
Whilst the contract obliges someone to sell and someone to buy a property, it doesn’t actually transfer the ownership of the property.
Neither the TR1 nor the TP1 are title deeds. The title deed is a legal document that proves ownership of a property, whilst the TR1 and TP1 are used to transfer the ownership of a property and update the Land Registry records.
A TR1 is a transfer deed that enables the transfer of property ownership in England or Wales. Without it, buyers cannot officially gain title to a property.
The TR1 is typically prepared by the seller’s conveyancers and is a legally binding document transferring complete property ownership.
You would need to use a TR1 transfer deed in situations such as:
A TP1 is slightly different to a TR1. A TP1 transfer deed is used when only a part of a property title needs to be transferred.
The TP1 will require a detailed plan identifying specific land being transferred, allowing you to transfer just a portion of a registered property or land.
For example, when a property with a house and garden is registered under one title, and the owner wants to split off and sell part of the garden, a TP1 transfer deed is used. The TP1 must include a precise plan identifying the exact land being transferred.
Typical scenarios for using a TP1 include:
To find out how much money you can borrow before buying a house, you may wish to consult with a bank, a building society, or mortgage broker. Based on your conversation with them, you will then receive an “offer in principle”, also called a “mortgage in principle” or “agreement in principle”.
Once you have found a house, you will ask your mortgage lender for a mortgage. Thereafter, they will issue a formal mortgage offer for that property, that will exactly detail
A mortgage deed states that you and the mortgage lender have agreed to use the property as security for the mortgage. As part of the process, the mortgage deed is also sent to the Land Registry, so they know there is a mortgage on the property.
If the property is a leasehold, you will also require a property lease agreement. If a property is leasehold, you don’t own the whole building, only part of it and for a specific period of time known
as a term. It is similar to a tenancy agreement, but for a much longer period. The lease details:
During the purchase of a property, your conveyancer gathers information on your behalf in a property report. The function of this document is to clarify things for you, so that you fully understand everything you need to know about the property, before signing any contract.
This search is done by the local council and provides details about planning permissions, building regulations, conservation areas, and listed buildings. It will also tell you if the council has done any work on the property, or lent someone money to do work on the property that needs to be repaid.
For instance, if a previous owner had the house adapted for an occupier with a special need or disability and the council paid for that, then they might expect to be paid back.
It is worth noting that this report only covers the property you are buying. Therefore, if you want to know if a neighbour has planning permission to build an extension in the future, you will need a special report.
It’s important to know if the property is connected to mains water and sewerage. In the absence of a connection, there is probably private water supply or sewerage. Your conveyancer will therefore need to find out who owns it and what rights the property has to use it.
An environmental search is a conveyancing search that gives details of the past uses of the land and the land in the vicinity of the property. It will tell you whether past uses are likely to have caused any potential contamination of the land.
Many homes are built on or near land previously used for industrial purposes, and the by-products may still pose a health threat from contamination of the ground where the house is built. Environment searches will also tell you if the property has been flooded in the past and, therefore, would be likely to flood again.
When you insure a house, you insure two things – the building and the contents.
As mentioned above, buildings that are leasehold don't belong to their owners. Consequently, the landlord or the managing agent will usually insure the building, and the leaseholder is expected to insure the contents.
If you own a freehold property, you need to insure the building and the contents.
In some cases, there might be something missing in the information about the property. For example, a document can be omitted or a right of way for a rear path isn’t in the deeds.
An indemnity policy can sometimes overcome this problem. When it occurs, your conveyancer will ask the seller’s conveyancer to put this insurance policy in place at their cost.
You need to know that the insurance doesn’t resolve the issue. In the example of the missing right of way, if someone stopped you using the right of way for the rear path, then the insurance wouldn’t allow you to keep using that right of way. However, it would mean that you could make a claim for any loss in market value of the property, because it didn’t have that right of way.
If you have a mortgage, then the mortgage provider has to be willing to rely on this insurance and not have the problem fully rectified.
Title deeds used to consist of a pile of handwritten documents that tracked the history of the property each time it was transferred or mortgaged.
These days, most of that information is computerised, and copies of the title register are provided by the Land Registry. Title deeds contain information about the rights that affect the property, who owns it, whether the property is mortgaged, and a title plan which shows an estimation of the boundaries.
An old (paper) deed might still need to be seen if a lot of information has been tracked over time, and it hasn’t been summarised in the title register. The Land Office has scanned a lot of deeds, but some of them are still missing. Therefore, if you still have some old deeds, it is best to keep hold of them and pass them on to any buyer of the property.
Yes, it is a legal requirement to have a valid EPC when selling your home. If a property is listed without a valid EPC, the seller and agent can face a fine of up to £5,000.
If you need a new assessment, you’ll need to get an accredited energy assessor to visit your home and assess the property to provide a rating.
The title deed proves you own your property, you’ll need it to sell your home. If you can’t find it, check with your mortgage lender or conveyancer to see if they held it for safekeeping.
Furthermore, your conveyancer will need to obtain a copy for you from Land Registry, so you shouldn't have any issues.
The TR1 form is a legally binding document that officially transfers complete ownership of a property from one party to another. It can also be used to register an unregistered property with the Land Registry.
The TP1 form is a legally binding document that is used when you are transferring part of your property to another party. For example, if your house and garden were under the same title, and you want to sell part of the garden, you would use a TP1 form.
The difference between a TR1 and a TP1 is their usage for transferring property ownership. The TR1 is used when the entire property is being transferred to a new owner. The TP1 transfer deed is used when only a portion of a property title needs to be transferred, such as a section of land.
All Eden conveyancers have years of experience buying and selling properties. If you have any questions about conveyancing documents, we are here to help. Ask for a quote, and find out everything you need to know about either documents to sell a house and documents for buying a house.
You can also find out more about our service and browse the range of help and advice articles available to help you with buying and selling houses.
