The current TA6 form asks every seller in England and Wales whether they are aware of the property ever being flooded. There is no “not known” box, the garden counts, and “ever” means ever. Here is what the question says, and what an honest answer looks like in eight common situations.
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Published 5 October 2026 · A RISE guide · 7–9 minute read
Our earlier guide on selling or buying a previously flooded home set out what the law expects of a seller. This one goes a level down, to the question itself. Since 30 March 2026, conveyancers in the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme have had to use the sixth edition of the TA6 Property Information Form, and its flood question is worded differently from the one many sellers remember. We have read the form, and the wording matters.
Question 8.1 reads: “Are you aware of the property or any part of it ever being flooded?” The answer boxes are Yes and No. If you tick Yes, the form asks you to say yes or no to each of six types (ground water, sewer flooding, surface water, coastal flooding, river flooding and “other”) and then to give the dates and say which parts flooded.
Question 8.2 is new: “Are you aware of any defences installed at the property to prevent flooding?” That one can be answered Yes, No or Not known.
The form also defines its terms. Flooding is “any case where land not normally covered by water becomes covered by water.”
| Fourth edition (2020) | Sixth edition (2025) | |
|---|---|---|
| The question | Has any part of the property, buildings or surrounding garden or land, ever been flooded? | Are you aware of the property or any part of it ever being flooded? |
| Answer boxes | Yes / No | Yes / No |
| Flood types | Six, including “other” | The same six, each answered yes or no |
| Flood Risk Report | Asked for, with a copy | No longer asked |
| Flood defences | Not asked | New question 8.2 |
There is no “not known” box on the flood question. Much has been made of the sixth edition offering more “not known” options. Question 8.1 is not one of them. It asks what you are aware of, so a No means “I am not aware of any flooding”, and a seller who is aware of one has nowhere else to go but Yes.
The garden counts. The question covers “the property or any part of it”, and the definition is about land, not rooms. Water across the lawn, the drive or the garage floor is within it, whether or not anything came through the door.
“Ever” is not limited to your time there. The form's own instructions say: “You might not know what occurred during a previous ownership of the property, but you should include information about anything you do know if relevant to the questions.”
Yes. Then use the details box to say exactly that: the date, which part of the land, how deep if you know, and that the house stayed dry. A precise answer tells the buyer far more than a bare tick, and it is the difference between “the lawn was under water for a day in 2024” and a buyer imagining the worst.
Yes, and sewer flooding is one of the six named types. It does not need to have entered the house. If the water company attended or paid compensation, say so and keep the paperwork. Our guide to who is responsible for which kind of flooding explains what a water company owes you when a public sewer is the cause.
Yes, and the type is usually ground water. This is the one sellers most often talk themselves out of, because there was no river and no storm. See our guide to groundwater flooding if you are not sure that is what it was.
If you know about it, the answer is Yes. You might know because the previous owner told you, because it was on the form when you bought, or because a neighbour has described it. The instructions also ask you to “check your answers match the information reasonably available to you”, so look at your own purchase file before you answer. If you have checked and know of nothing, No is a truthful answer.
The question is about the property, so on the form's wording, if none of your land was covered, the answer to 8.1 is No. Do not stop there. A buyer's searches, the neighbours or a council report may well mention the event, and an unexplained No next to a flooded street looks worse than it is. Tell your conveyancer and consider volunteering the context. If you kept the water out with barriers or sandbags, that belongs under question 8.2.
No. Question 8.1 asks what has happened to the property, and a flood zone or a risk rating is a forecast, not an event. Nothing in the flooding section asks you to state the property's flood risk. Two cautions. The buyer's searches will show the risk whatever you tick, so expect the question to come back through the solicitors. And question 7.2 asks whether insurance has ever been “difficult to obtain or subject to special conditions”, which is where a flood exclusion or an unusually high flood excess has to be declared.
The form does not say, and we will not pretend it does. The named types are all water arriving from outside or from the sewer, but the definition does not mention cause and there is an “other” box. Ask your conveyancer how they want it recorded. If you made a buildings insurance claim, it has to go on the form anyway, under question 7.3.
Still Yes. The question says “ever”, and new drainage does not change what happened. What the fix changes is the rest of your answer: say what was done, by whom and when, and attach the evidence. A repaired cause, properly documented, is the strongest thing a seller with flood history can put in front of a buyer.
The form tells sellers in plain terms that “buyers can rely on the information you give” and that “if you give misleading information, the buyer may be able to claim compensation after completion.” Behind that sits section 2(1) of the Misrepresentation Act 1967. A buyer who entered the contract after a false answer, and lost money as a result, can claim damages unless the seller proves they had reasonable ground to believe the answer was true, and did believe it, up to the time of the contract. The burden is on the seller.
Time does not necessarily protect a seller either. Under section 32 of the Limitation Act 1980, where a fact has been deliberately concealed, the limitation period does not start to run until the buyer discovers the concealment or could with reasonable diligence have discovered it.
A flood is a fact about the house. How well you can explain it is up to you. Before you fill in the form, pull together:
If you are buying, read the same answers from the other side. A No at 8.1 means the seller is not aware of flooding, which is not the same as the property never having flooded. Our guide to checking a property's real flood risk before you buy covers the checks to run alongside it.
If you are selling a home that has flooded and want to know what the council's own record says before you answer question 8.1, the RISE Section 19 Case Assessment is £250, delivered to your inbox.
Sources: The Law Society, TA6 Property Information Form (6th edition, 2025), instructions for sellers, definitions and questions 7.2, 7.3, 8.1 and 8.2, and TA6 (4th edition, second revision, 2020), question 7; see the Law Society's transaction forms page. The Law Society, press release on the sixth edition (13 October 2025). Misrepresentation Act 1967, section 2. Limitation Act 1980, section 32.
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