Conveyancers are today breathing sighs of relief following a turbulent week in which one of the country’s biggest mortgage lenders dropped what one practitioner described as a ‘grenade’ that they feared would make their lives considerably harder and slow down the homebuying process.

It emerged earlier this week that Nationwide had updated its requirements in the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook for Conveyancers. The changes related to restrictive covenants and mortgagee protection clauses.

The update prompted conveyancers - currently under pressure to complete transactions ahead of forthcoming stamp duty land tax changes - to vent their anger on social media. ‘Estate agents and mortgage brokers. Please bear with us while we deal with the grenade Nationwide have landed on us lawyers with their updated requirements from us, which will almost slow down nearly all transactions where a Nationwide mortgage is being obtained,’ one licensed conveyancer said. Another questioned why Nationwide appeared to be asking for a mortgagee protection clause in every lease given other statutory protections existed.

Yesterday, Nationwide met Rob Hailstone, founder of Bold Legal Group, an advice information and support network for conveyancers, and BLG members Nicola Maskell and Alex Snow to clarify the changes. A document posted by Hailstone today said the changes were in response to a growing number of referrals from conveyancers on restrictive covenants and mortgagee protection clauses.

Nationwide ‘clarified that their requirements relating to restrictive covenants was designed to set out the information that they require if a conveyancer is referring a breach of covenant to them to avoid having to ask for additional information whenever a query is sent in', the document says. 

On mortgagee protection clauses, Nationwide ‘pointed out that the section of the UK Finance Handbook that was updated related to “If the terms of the lease are unsatisfactory…” and therefore, if a conveyancer considers that the lease is satisfactory and does not require a Mortgagee Protection Clause… the change is not relevant’.

Nationwide made further revisions to its requirements following the meeting.

A spokesperson for Nationwide told the Gazette: ‘Nationwide continually looks for ways to support the conveyancing community and ensure they have all the relevant and up-to-date information to avoid any last-minute issues with completions. In this case, we have published policy to clarify the most commonly asked questions from conveyancers ahead of the upcoming changes to stamp duty. As is the case with any updates, they are not applicable to cases where contracts have already exchanged.’