3 minutes reading time
(524 words)
Paying to Comply? The Handbook Wake-Up Call
There was a sharp intake of breath across conveyancing when UK Finance announced plans to charge for access to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook.
From 1 June 2026, the proposal was simple on paper yet serious in impact. Firms would need to pay £50 plus VAT per named user, per year, simply to access the online Handbook. Generic logins would be removed. Access to lender instructions would become something you paid for.
For many in practice, that landed badly.
The Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook is not guidance you dip into occasionally. It is the rulebook that underpins safe, compliant conveyancing. It is relied upon daily by fee earners, supervisors, paralegals, trainees and support staff. It exists primarily to protect lenders, yet the cost and administrative burden was being pushed firmly onto the profession delivering that protection.
The reaction was swift. Professional bodies, including the Society of Licensed Conveyancers, raised objections almost immediately. Concerns centred on fairness, risk, and access. Charging for a mandatory compliance tool felt like placing a paywall in front of the rules themselves.
Within days, UK Finance reversed its position and confirmed that access would remain free for conveyancers, at least for the foreseeable future. That speed of response tells its own story. The strength of feeling was clear, and the pressure landed.
Yet the episode is still worth pausing on.
The proposed fee may have gone, although the underlying direction of travel has not. The new platform is still coming. Individual logins are still planned. Generic access is still being phased out. Even without a charge attached, this changes how firms operate day to day.
Access matters. Conveyancing is a team process. Risk increases when information is harder to reach, slower to check, or restricted to fewer people. Anything that adds friction to compliance, even unintentionally, deserves close scrutiny.
There is also a wider issue sitting just beneath the surface. Conveyancing firms are already absorbing rising professional indemnity costs, regulatory obligations, audit requirements and operational pressures. Each change on its own may seem manageable. Taken together, they shape whether practices remain viable, resilient, and attractive places to work.
This is not about resisting modernisation. Secure platforms, better functionality and clearer accountability all have their place. What matters is that mandatory standards remain accessible, proportionate, and workable in real-world practice.
On this week’s IPSA Kind Of Magic, Gareth Wax, Hamish McLay and Silas J Lees will be talking through what happened, why it struck such a nerve, and what it tells us about the pressures building across the conveyancing system.
It will be a calm, grounded conversation about compliance, cost, and confidence. Not finger-pointing. Just a proper look at how close we came to paying to read the rules, and what that says about the road ahead.
Join us live this Wednesday at 1pm. As always, comments and contributions are welcome before, during or after the show.
Watch live or catch up on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@SpillingTheProper-Tea
For content enquiries:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For podcast and media enquiries:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
From 1 June 2026, the proposal was simple on paper yet serious in impact. Firms would need to pay £50 plus VAT per named user, per year, simply to access the online Handbook. Generic logins would be removed. Access to lender instructions would become something you paid for.
For many in practice, that landed badly.
The Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook is not guidance you dip into occasionally. It is the rulebook that underpins safe, compliant conveyancing. It is relied upon daily by fee earners, supervisors, paralegals, trainees and support staff. It exists primarily to protect lenders, yet the cost and administrative burden was being pushed firmly onto the profession delivering that protection.
The reaction was swift. Professional bodies, including the Society of Licensed Conveyancers, raised objections almost immediately. Concerns centred on fairness, risk, and access. Charging for a mandatory compliance tool felt like placing a paywall in front of the rules themselves.
Within days, UK Finance reversed its position and confirmed that access would remain free for conveyancers, at least for the foreseeable future. That speed of response tells its own story. The strength of feeling was clear, and the pressure landed.
Yet the episode is still worth pausing on.
The proposed fee may have gone, although the underlying direction of travel has not. The new platform is still coming. Individual logins are still planned. Generic access is still being phased out. Even without a charge attached, this changes how firms operate day to day.
Access matters. Conveyancing is a team process. Risk increases when information is harder to reach, slower to check, or restricted to fewer people. Anything that adds friction to compliance, even unintentionally, deserves close scrutiny.
There is also a wider issue sitting just beneath the surface. Conveyancing firms are already absorbing rising professional indemnity costs, regulatory obligations, audit requirements and operational pressures. Each change on its own may seem manageable. Taken together, they shape whether practices remain viable, resilient, and attractive places to work.
This is not about resisting modernisation. Secure platforms, better functionality and clearer accountability all have their place. What matters is that mandatory standards remain accessible, proportionate, and workable in real-world practice.
On this week’s IPSA Kind Of Magic, Gareth Wax, Hamish McLay and Silas J Lees will be talking through what happened, why it struck such a nerve, and what it tells us about the pressures building across the conveyancing system.
It will be a calm, grounded conversation about compliance, cost, and confidence. Not finger-pointing. Just a proper look at how close we came to paying to read the rules, and what that says about the road ahead.
Join us live this Wednesday at 1pm. As always, comments and contributions are welcome before, during or after the show.
Watch live or catch up on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@SpillingTheProper-Tea
For content enquiries:
For podcast and media enquiries:
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