New BASPI form launches with update information requests

Trade and representative bodies representing the legal, surveying, estate agency and property management sectors have launched the fifth iteration of the BASPI – Buyer’s and Seller’s Property Information form.

This new version of the BASPI form follows the annual review of the information, undertaken via the HBSG Steering Group, and co-ordinated by the Conveyancing Association.

Amendments to Part A cover a number of additional information requests such as freehold shares, details of any reserve fund and any annual contributions, whether the property is within the ULEZ area in London, how many storeys in the building, and whether it includes any commercial property.

There are also specific new questions related to any title defect insurance policies on the property, if it is within an area of unrestricted mobile phone coverage, whether there are any air/water or ground source heat pumps, whether any known risk of coastal erosion affects the property or its boundary, and if there is any step-free access from the street or throughout the property,

The Conveyancing Association is also urging its membership, and all property market stakeholders, to engage with the recently-announced inquiry from the Levelling Up Committee into the home buying and selling process.

Beth Rudolf, director of delivery at the Conveyancing Association, said: “Each year, via the steering group of the HBSG, the CA co-ordinates a fundamental and complete review of the content of the BASPI, to ensure it is as up to date as possible, that we are covering off all information requests we should be in today’s property market, and that it contains to be fit for purpose for all those who use, and rely, upon it.

“I’m pleased to say that, following this review, we have been able to update and include a number of amendments within Part A of the BASPI. This is hugely important as it helps identify the material information relevant to the property that the seller is aware of. Of course, the title and authority information will need to be reviewed by the conveyancing firm as part of the due diligence process to identify the relevant information via the Local, Water, Mining (where relevant) and Environmental authorities.

“Our freely-available BASPI Schema allows all the amendments to this version of the BASPI to be seen on the webforms, while there is also a new pdf, kindly put together by Advanced Legal, with form fields to enable those with accessibility issues, which also includes all the questions.”

The latest version of the BASPI can be found via the HBSG website.