No Summer Slowdown When it Comes to Lender Handbook Changes
The three-month period between June and September 2018 witnessed significant activity when it came to lenders changing their Handbook instructions.
Conveyancers may have taken a well-earned break during the summer but lenders did not rest when it came to altering their requirements for panel firms.
Here are some of the facts and figures:
| Lender | Sections Changed | Separate Change Events |
| Barclays Bank UK PLC | 3 | 2 |
| Halifax | 8 | 4 |
| HSBC Bank plc | 11 | 5 |
| Nationwide Building Society | 9 | 6 |
| Santander UK plc | 12 | 5 |
| Skipton Building Society | 4 | 3 |
| Virgin Money plc | 1 | 1 |
A full list can be found here:
The total number of sections varied in the summer period was 253 with 47 lenders making changes.
Email notifications via the LENDERmonitor Notification Service was sent to over 650 lawyers.
The highest open rates were by top-200 law firms who, in this regard, display a healthy appetite towards lender compliance.
60% of LM04 pre-COT date range searches in the said period revealed lender changes. The most searched lender was Nationwide Building Society.
Some of the more significant changes related to crucial issues such as:
- Ground rent escalation clauses
- Minimum unexpired lease terms
- Gifted deposits
- Redemption statements
- Reporting incentives
- Flying Freeholds
If you are yet to sign up to the Notification Service you should give it serious consideration. Click here to find out more.
As we approach the Autumn period don’t ‘fall’ down when it comes to following your lender client’s requirements. It’s easy to get tripped up and miss a change. Surely you don’t want to cause serious and irreparable damage to your firm in failing to follow instructions?
Kindly shared by Simon Seaton – non-practising solicitor
