Handover Day: The Paper Trail That Should Arrive With Your Keys

For most buyers, completion day is remembered as a blur of phone calls, estate agent small talk and the physical weight of a front-door key. What is far more easily forgotten is the paperwork — the quiet counterpart to the key itself. Yet the documents handed over on the day of completion often determine how smoothly you can sell, remortgage or resolve a dispute years later.

This article sets out what should form part of that handover, what each item does, and the practical steps to take when a document fails to materialise.

The Core Bundle: What Should Change Hands

The exact contents of the completion file vary from transaction to transaction, but a well-run conveyance should result in the buyer receiving most of the following:

• The title information and official copies. Following registration at HM Land Registry, the buyer's solicitor will hold the Title Register and Title Plan. Strictly speaking, these follow after registration rather than arriving on the day, but they are the root of your ownership and should be chased if not received promptly.
• Completed property information forms. The TA6 form, completed by the seller, records fixtures and fittings, boundary responsibilities, disputes, guarantees, planning permissions, and utility suppliers. For leasehold purchases, a leasehold information form (TA7) covers service charges, ground rent and management company details.
• The fixtures, fittings and contents form (TA10). This confirms precisely what stays in the property — from fitted appliances to garden sheds — and prevents the familiar post-completion argument about whether the washing machine was included.
• Guarantees, warranties and certificates. Original documents for items such as an NHBC or other new-home warranty, damp-proofing or timber treatment guarantees, window installations covered by FENSA or CERTASS certification, and electrical work supported by an Electrical Installation Certificate or Minor Works Certificate.
• Building regulations approvals and completion certificates. For any structural work carried out by the seller — a loft conversion, extension or removed wall — the corresponding approvals and local authority completion certificates should be provided.
• Planning documents. Planning consents, approved drawings and any conditions discharged, particularly where work was subject to restrictions.
• Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). While available publicly, a copy is often included for completeness.
• Key documents for leasehold and shared-ownership buyers. The lease itself, accounts of service charges, buildings insurance details, and any deeds of covenant or notices served on the freeholder.

Why Each Item Earns Its Place

It is tempting to treat the handover bundle as ceremonial. It is anything but. Each document serves a distinct legal or practical function.

The TA6 form, once received, becomes part of the evidence of what the seller represented about the property. If a boundary dispute later emerges, the seller's stated position on boundaries is your starting point. Guarantees such as an NHBC warranty are frequently time-limited and transferable only if the paperwork is intact — a missing certificate can convert a ten-year structural warranty into a worthless memory.

Building regulations approvals matter most at the point of resale. A buyer's solicitor, reviewing the file for the next transaction, will ask for evidence that the extension or structural alteration was lawful and inspected. Without it, the new sale can stall while indemnity insurance is negotiated, or worse, while retrospective approval is sought from Building Control.

When Something Is Missing

Gaps in the completion file are common and, in most cases, recoverable. The approach depends on what is missing and from whom.

If the seller's solicitor goes quiet. After completion, the seller's file is technically their client's property. Your solicitor can make a formal written request to their opposite number for outstanding documents — the TA6, guarantees or certificates. Most firms respond to a polite but firm chasing letter, particularly where the file was clearly incomplete at exchange.

If the seller has disappeared or is uncooperative. Some documents can be reconstructed independently. Building regulations approvals can be requested from the local authority's Building Control department (a small fee applies). FENSA maintains a register of certified window installations, searchable online. HM Land Registry holds copies of the Title Register and Title Plan for a few pounds each. The EPC register allows you to retrieve the current certificate free of charge.

If a guarantee was never transferred. Some warranties, particularly older structural guarantees, require formal notice of the change of ownership. Contacting the issuing body with proof of title usually resolves this.

If the gap is genuinely unfillable. Indemnity insurance is the standard fallback. A policy covering the absence of building regulations approval or a missing guarantee typically costs a few hundred pounds and provides financial protection if the underlying defect later causes a problem. It is not a substitute for the document, but it keeps transactions and remortgages moving.

A Practical Habit Worth Adopting

The most reliable safeguard is simply to insist on the file. Before exchange of contracts, ask your conveyancer to confirm in writing which documents the seller has provided and which are outstanding. On completion day, request copies of everything held. File them — physically or digitally — alongside the Title Register once it arrives.

A house is bought with money, but it is owned, defended and eventually sold on paper. The buyers who treat the completion file with the same seriousness as the keys themselves rarely regret it.

HousingDocs helps buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants navigate UK property paperwork with clarity. If a document from your completion file has gone astray, our team can advise on the fastest route to recovery.