UK Finance has responded to widespread criticism of its decision to introduce a fee for conveyancers to access its new Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook platform, along with changes to its registration system.
In response to a request from Today’s Conveyancer, a UK Finance spokesperson said:
“The UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook supports the conveyancing profession throughout the home‑buying and selling process. As the current version of the handbook requires updating, we are introducing a more resilient, secure, and user‑focused platform. To meet the costs of this upgrade and future development, we plan to introduce a nominal usage fee from 1 June 2026, following a free transition period.
“The new handbook will require each user to set up their own individual log‑in, enabling them to tailor the handbook to their needs and benefit from an enhanced user experience. This will not necessarily mean that every conveyancer requires or must pay for a separate licence; for example, a firm may hold a single licence for a paralegal who undertakes searches on behalf of multiple conveyancers.
“We will continue to work closely with the Law Societies, conveyancers and our members during the initial rollout to assess the approach to charging.”
The response follows an overwhelmingly negative reaction to the changes from conveyancers and representative bodies.
“We are extremely disappointed that despite the clear objections we have raised on behalf of our members, UK Finance is proceeding with charging conveyancers to access the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook,” said Law Society of England and Wales president Mark Evans.
“Conveyancers have no choice but to use the handbook for each transaction. A situation is being created where conveyancers will now have to pay lenders when providing a legal service to them.
“This compulsory charge is being imposed on conveyancers without any serious consultation or communication with the sector. It will increase the cost of conveyancing for conveyancers and ultimately for their clients.”
The Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC) also condemned the decision to charge conveyancers for accessing lenders’ own instructions, and called the move “outrageous, unjustifiable and wholly unacceptable”.
SLC chair Simon Law said:
“UK Finance is effectively telling conveyancers: pay us if you want to follow your client’s instructions. This is absurd. No other profession is charged to access mandatory instructions from its own clients.”
The SLC also warned that the plan forces conveyancers to subsidise lender risk management, adding unnecessary financial pressure and placing essential compliance information behind a paywall.
“The profession will not accept paying for access to instructions we are obligated to follow,” Law said.
“UK Finance must rethink this immediately.”
The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) has also hit out at the charging model, and questioned the impact on money laundering regulations.
“Passing the fee on is not without risk,” CILEX said.
“If handled incorrectly, it could raise regulatory questions around how client money is held and accounted for, including anti-money laundering considerations.
“We also want clear answers on whether lenders will face equivalent charges, or whether conveyancers alone are being asked to foot the bill.”
David Pett, director of MJP Conveyancing, said the changes are “unreasonable and fundamentally unfair”.
“Let us be clear about what this means in practice,” he continued.
“Firms will be forced to pay simply to read their client’s instructions. The Handbook is not an optional resource. It is a mandatory tool for safe, compliant conveyancing. It exists primarily to protect lenders, yet the cost is being shifted onto the profession that must follow it.
“This is unreasonable and fundamentally unfair. This proposal risks doing real harm to day to day practice. The cost burden lands on firms already carrying rising regulatory, professional indemnity, and operational pressures. It creates access barriers for teams who need to consult requirements routinely, including paralegals, trainees, administrative support, and assistants.
“It increases transaction risk if requirements cannot be checked quickly and widely across a firm. It creates a paywall on compliance, charging people to follow rules they did not create.
“This is not a value added service. It is an attempt to monetise a compulsory industry standard.”
Rob Hailstone is the CEO and founder of Bold Legal Group, a support network for conveyancers. He warns the strength of negative feeling amongst the profession is not going away.
“I’m sorry but the response from UK Finance contains nothing but weasel words, and conveyancers have had enough,” he said.
“They are given more tasks to carry and more costs to swallow up almost daily. It is no wonder they are leaving the profession in their droves. I cannot believe that UK Finance has not grasped the strength of negative feeling that this has created within a very short period of time.
“The BLG membership is up in arms as are other conveyancers on social media. It is time for UK Finance to read the room and rethink its position or prepare for a long period of disquiet.”
3 responses
Rob Hailstone is right. And the response by UK Finance reveals a deeper problem.
UK Finance’s reaction to criticism of its lender handbook changes has done more than defend a policy—it has exposed the widening fault lines in the lender–conveyancer relationship at a moment of profound change across the property landscape.
From leasehold reform to the shift toward commonhold, from building safety to controversial conveyancing reforms, the property world is undergoing its most turbulent period in decades. And throughout it all, property lawyers continue to shoulder the historic responsibility of perfecting security so lenders can safely release funds. It is the quiet, essential work that underpins the entire mortgage market.
Against that backdrop, UK Finance doubling down feels astonishingly narrow‑sighted.
Instead of acknowledging the pressures on conveyancers or the need for shared responsibility, the response retreats into defensiveness—treating the handbook as a one‑way instrument rather than a collaborative framework built on trust and professional judgment.
The CTF is right to call for lenders to take a more active and accountable role in reform. You cannot modernise the homebuying system while antagonising/marginalising the very professionals who make secured lending possible.
If lenders want a market that is faster, safer, and more resilient, partnership is not optional—it is the indispensable foundation upon which the future of secure, trusted homebuying must be built.
Client “I’d like to buy a house”
Ok , can I have the address?
Client “Sure, that’ll be £50 plus VAT… “
If as a profession, across whatever private organisation your firm is a member of, we all refuse to comply and force Lenders to instruct their own lawyers, then obviously the risk is removed from the conveyancers acting for the private clients but sadly it incurs a delay. How about Lenders putting their hands in THEIR POCKETS and paying UK Finance for the services rendered in place of putting yet more onerous obligations on conveyancing firms. Residential Conveyancers are either leaving the profession or retiring, not one by one, but in droves monthly – and I predict that this will make more change their mind about their future plans.
It goes from being dire to being absolutely abysmal compared to 30 years ago – no change ever seems to be for the better and we are the mugs who just keep on accepting it – we need to take action TODAY, supported by our professional governing bodies!