What buyers' solicitors ask sellers in conveyancing enquiries

Once your solicitor sends out the draft contract pack, the buyer's solicitor responds with enquiries: written questions you must answer before contracts can be exchanged. Slow or vague replies to enquiries are one of the most common reasons a sale drifts, and they are largely avoidable with preparation.

Where enquiries come from

In England and Wales the contract pack is built around two standard forms. The TA6 property information form covers boundaries, disputes, alterations, guarantees and services, and the TA10 fittings and contents form records what stays and what goes. The Law Society's transaction forms page lists the current versions: the TA6 sixth edition, published in October 2025 and mandatory since 30 March 2026, replaced the fifth edition and cut the form from 25 sections to 15. Enquiries arise wherever your form answers, the title documents, the search results and the buyer's survey do not line up.

The questions that come up on most sales

The same themes appear on file after file. Who owns and maintains which boundary, and does the fence line match the title plan. Did the loft conversion, extension or replacement windows get planning permission and building regulations sign-off, and where are the completion certificates. Have you had any dispute or complaint involving a neighbour. Are there guarantees for damp proofing, timber treatment or roof work, and are they transferable. On a flat, expect a second wave about service charges, reserve funds and the management pack, which is why leasehold sales run slower.

How to answer without creating a problem

Your replies carry legal weight, because a buyer who relies on a wrong answer can sue for misrepresentation after completion. Answer factually, attach the document rather than describing it from memory, and say not known where that is the honest answer rather than guessing. If a certificate does not exist, say so plainly: your solicitor can usually offer indemnity insurance for a missing building regulations certificate, and that fix takes days, while an invented answer can unravel the sale months later.

Resist the urge to argue with an enquiry that feels petty. The buyer's solicitor is usually satisfying a mortgage lender's requirements rather than their own curiosity, and a short factual reply closes the point faster than a paragraph of objection. Where you genuinely cannot answer, for example on a boundary treated informally for decades, say what you know and how long you have known it, and let the solicitors decide what to do with it.

Requisitions arrive as a second wave before completion

Even after enquiries are answered and contracts exchanged, a final set of standard questions called requisitions on title arrives on the TA13 form, covering completion arrangements, keys and the discharge of your mortgage. These are routine, but they still need same-week answers, because by then the completion date is fixed and every other party is packing.

Why slow replies kill chains

Each round of enquiries is a full loop: buyer's solicitor drafts, your solicitor forwards, you dig for paperwork, replies go back, and follow-ups start the loop again. A week lost per loop is normal. Meanwhile the buyer's mortgage offer is ageing towards its expiry date, and every other transaction in the chain resets to the pace of the slowest link. We look at the wider timescales in our separate article on how long it takes to sell a house in 2026.

The fastest sellers treat enquiries as a document hunt done in week one, not a correspondence exercise done in week ten. Before your home is even listed, gather the building regulations certificates, window installation certificates, gas and electrical paperwork and guarantees into one folder, using the checklist in our guide to the documents you need to sell your house. Then answer the TA6 with that folder open, because complete first answers are what keep a buyer's solicitor from writing back.

A responsive solicitor matters as much as a responsive seller, so compare quotes from conveyancing solicitors and instruct one before you accept an offer, not after.