The report on title
The buyer's report, built on the record as the pack arrives: every register entry explained, every search summarised, every risk given a colour, and a checklist of what must happen before exchange.
The report you get before you exchange, rewritten so you can read it
A report on title is the letter in which your solicitor tells you what the legal papers actually say about the property you are buying. It draws together the entries on the register at HM Land Registry, the lease if there is one, the searches, the seller's replies to enquiries, the planning history, the tax due and the conditions of your mortgage offer, and it turns all of that into one document addressed to you. It is the point at which the person who has read everything says, in writing, that you can safely be bound. Once you have read it and signed the contract, the property is yours to complete on, faults and all.
Conventionally the report arrives late and long. It is written in one sitting near the end, after every reply is in, because it is easier to write it once than to keep amending it. Ours ran to thirty four pages on a flat purchase. Much of it is quotation: whole register entries copied out, whole lease clauses reproduced, followed by a sentence saying the entry is normal. The buyer receives it a few days before exchange, often with a deadline attached, and is asked to confirm they have read and understood it. Very few people do read it. That is not a criticism of solicitors, who are protecting themselves against a claim that something was not disclosed. It is a criticism of the format.
Homebinding changes four things. The report is built on the transaction record as the pack arrives, so the title section is written the day the official copies come in and the search section the day the results come back, rather than everything waiting for the last item. The buyer sees each part as it is checked, so there is no thirty page surprise at the end and there is time to ask about an entry while there is still something to be done about it. Every register entry is explained in plain words instead of quoted, with the quotation kept underneath for the record. Every risk carries a traffic light and a line saying what it would cost and how it is being handled, and the amber and red items collect themselves into a short list of what must be satisfied before exchange. The solicitor still signs it off, and it is still addressed to the buyer alone.
The same report does a second job. Where a property is going to auction, the finished report is the summary that sits at the front of the legal pack, so a bidder can see in one page what the pack contains and where the difficulties are. This is not advice on any particular property.
One page first, then the detail
The finished report opens with a single page: the property, the parties, the price, the tenure, the date, and an overall verdict of proceed, proceed with conditions, or do not proceed yet. Under it sits the risk table. Nothing on that page is longer than a sentence. If you read only the first page you will still know whether the purchase is straightforward, what the sticking points are, and what has to happen before you are bound.
Behind the summary the sections run in the order a solicitor works: the title, the lease, the searches, planning, the seller's replies, the money, the risks, the pre exchange checklist and the sign off. Sections with nothing in them do not appear. The register is described, not reproduced: a restriction is explained by what it stops you doing and how it will be lifted, a covenant by what it prevents and whether anyone can still enforce it, an easement by who may cross what.
| Light | What it means | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Green | Checked and satisfactory. Nothing outstanding. | Read it and move on. |
| Amber | A real point that has an answer, but the answer is not in place yet. | It appears in the before exchange list. Do not exchange until it is cleared. |
| Red | Something that could stop the purchase or cost real money. | Talk to your solicitor before you do anything else. |
Registered title, official copies and the priority search are governed by the Land Registration Act 2002 and the Land Registration Rules 2003. A contract for the sale of land must be in writing and signed, under section 2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989.
Report on title
This is Homebinding's report on title. The solicitor acting for the buyer fills it in as the pack arrives, and the buyer reads it as it fills up. Answers are kept in this browser and will be saved to the transaction record when the Homebinding back end is live (demonstration). This is not advice.
Where the report lives
The report on title is a record on the transaction, not an attachment. Each section fills from the part of the pack it belongs to as that part arrives, so the title section is written when the official copies are downloaded and the search section when the results come back, and the buyer can watch it fill. Traffic lights set on any section feed the risk table on the summary page, and every amber or red item copies itself into the before exchange checklist, which stays visible on the transaction until each line is ticked. The solicitor signs the report off with their name, firm and SRA number, and the signed version is stored as a dated record so that both sides can see what was reported and when. Where the property is listed for auction, the same signed report becomes the legal pack summary at the front of the lot, so a bidder reads a page rather than a folder.
Sources: HM Land Registry on registered title, official copies and restrictions; HM Revenue and Customs on Stamp Duty Land Tax; the Welsh Revenue Authority on Land Transaction Tax; Revenue Scotland on Land and Buildings Transaction Tax; the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Council for Licensed Conveyancers on who may act; the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and the Coal Authority on flood, ground stability and environmental searches; local authorities on the local search and building control records. This is not advice.
