How Estate Agents Can Use a Verified Maintenance History to Cut Sale Delays

Many delays happen after an offer is accepted, not before. A buyer's solicitor raises enquiries about work carried out on the property, using the Property Information Form (TA6), and the seller has to track down paperwork they may not have kept.

Each unanswered enquiry is another round of chasing between you, the seller and both solicitors.

Agents are expected to give buyers material information in a listing, such as tenure, council tax band and known issues with the property. Work history, certificates and guarantees often sit behind several of these questions.

The TA6 form asks sellers about building work, guarantees and certificates in detail. Gathering those answers when you take the instruction means the listing and the later forms say the same thing.

When you take on a new instruction, ask the seller whether they have kept a record of work carried out on the property. If they use Propvio, that record already has certificates and confirmed jobs attached, ready to share.

Including a link to this record in the listing itself gives a buyer information up front, rather than raising it as a question weeks into the process.

A record built from jobs the tradesperson has personally confirmed carries more weight with a cautious buyer than a seller's own account of work carried out. It is harder to dispute, since it does not rely on the seller's memory or paperwork alone.

Ask about a property's maintenance record as a standard part of taking on a new instruction, alongside the usual questions about certificates and guarantees. It costs nothing to ask, and can save time later in the sale.