UK Finance, the trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector, will launch its new Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook platform on 2 March.
Access to the handbook will only be possible with an individual user account, with all current generic email logons to be discontinued by 31 May.
UK Finance advises all conveyancers and firms using the handbook to create a list of users who need access, which it suggests should include conveyancers, paralegals, solicitors, administrative staff and trainees. An annual fee of £50 for each individual user will apply from 1 June.
The announcement was met with disappointment from conveyancers, with one Council for Licensed Conveyancers member saying, “This is definitely something conveyancers need to make their voices heard on.”
Another responded, “Not content with us acting for them for free they now want us to pay for the privilege.”
Others said the move was “madness” and “ridiculous”.
In a statement shared with law societies, conveyancer and solicitor professional representatives and regulatory bodies, UK Finance wrote:
“The current version of the Handbook has served the sector well over time, but the underlying IT will no longer be supported, so we have taken the opportunity to invest in updating our operating system to improve both resilience and security as well as substantially improving functionality based on user feedback. To cover the costs of this – and any future – investments, we will be introducing a usage fee from 1 June 2026.
“We will be running a three-month transitionary period for the new Handbook platform and licencing framework between March and June, prior to charging commencing for relevant users in June.
“The new Handbook platform has been developed to deliver a substantial enhancement in the quality and consistency of the services it provides to users. It incorporates a range of improvements, including enhanced security with two-factor authentication, functionality and filter options; search and save features; the ability to compare lenders and an improved user experience designed to offer a more intuitive and seamless journey for all stakeholders.
“From Monday 2 March, conveyancers can access registration via the Handbook homepage. To complete registration, users must verify their email address. After three months of access, users will be prompted to purchase a subscription.
“We appreciate your continued support and look forward to providing you with this enhanced resource. If you have any queries or would like to discuss the transition to the new Handbook in more detail, please contact mlh@ukfinance.org.uk.”
3 responses
The announcement that UK Finance will require conveyancers to register and pay a £50 fee to access the new Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook has not landed with disappointment, but with a sense of disbelief that, at a moment when the Conveyancing Task Force and others are calling for lenders to shoulder their share of responsibility in homebuying reform, the burden is instead being shifted further onto the profession. Property lawyers have argued that lenders must “step up to the plate” if reform is to be credible. This development moves in the opposite direction.
When a conveyancer acts for both purchaser and lender, the profession accepts a dual retainer, comprising a delicate balance of duties. That balance depends on clarity, independence, and the absence of commercial leverage. Introducing a paid‑for gateway to lender instructions crosses a line of principle. The anger expressed across the profession is not about the sum involved. It is about what the fee symbolises: a further erosion of the mutuality that should underpin the lender–conveyancer relationship.
Reform of homebuying and selling will only succeed if all parties recognise their shared obligations. Conveyancers have long carried their part of that load. The expectation now is that lenders demonstrate the same commitment—not by introducing new charges, but by engaging constructively with the profession on supervision, consistency, and accountability.
UK Finance have failed utterly to engage with the legal profession over this new platform. Solicitors have no contractual or other relationship with UK Finance. If this new platform was requested by lenders, then the lenders should pay for it.
There is no reason whatsoever for a solicitor to need to log in or register with the platform. At most, our only interaction with the website is to download the most recent version of the Lender’s Handbook for our region, and the specific lender for whom we’re acting. There is no portal required. There is no additional functionality required.
We are being required to pay to obtain instructions from our client lender. That is unconscionable.
We need, individually and collectively, to reject this new platform, and ask our lender clients to furnish the latest version of their lender handbook with each set of mortgage instructions.
This is no different to buying any piece of equipment and then having to pay extra for the instructions on how to use it! 🙁
An absolute sorry and ridiculous state of affairs! Not to mention greed.
I for one will be looking to use a 3rd party like I have been before giving in to this corporate greed!