CILEX response: Launch of UK Finance’s new Mortgage Lender’s Handbook

29 January 2026

As part of the ongoing development of the new Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook IT platform, UK Finance announced on Tuesday 27 January that it will introduce a new fee structure, commercialising access to the handbook across the conveyancing sector.

Under the proposed changes, conveyancing lawyers and their support staff will be required to pay £50 + VAT per user for access to the updated handbook, which has historically been free. Law firms have been advised to compile a list of individuals who require access ahead of registration opening on Monday 2 March.

As part of the registration process, users will need to verify their individual email addresses, and generic email logins will no longer be permitted. From 1 June 2026, users will be prompted to purchase the annual subscription.

CILEX recognises that UK Finance’s investment in a new Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook platform aims to deliver improvements in security, resilience and usability for the profession, including enhanced functionality, two-factor authentication and better search and comparison tools. CILEX believes that enhancing the reliability of such a critical resource is welcome in principle, given its central role in conveyancing practice.

However, CILEX is concerned that the proposed charging model for accessing the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook places an unavoidable financial burden on conveyancing professionals. Understanding that conveyancing lawyers are required to use the Handbook when acting for lenders, the introduction of an individual user fee effectively creates a mandatory cost of doing business, with no alternative route for compliance.

Additionally, CILEX is concerned that the fee creates two potential outcomes, both problematic. Firms may be forced to absorb the additional fees at a time when margins in conveyancing are already under significant pressure. Alternatively, they may pass the cost on to clients, adding yet another expense to the home-moving process. Either route increases financial strain in a sector where affordability is already a major issue. Charging clients also carries regulatory risks: if not calculated correctly, it could raise questions around anti-moneylaundering rules relating to holding money on account.

CILEX is further concerned by the lack of clarity around whether lenders themselves will be subject to an equivalent fee structure, or whether the cost burden is being placed solely on conveyancing lawyers. CILEX also seeks transparency on how third-party platforms and integrated services will be affected. The absence of transparency risks creating confusion across the market, at a time when consistency and certainty are vital for professionals and consumers alike.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Louise Eckersley, Black Letter Communications on 0203 567 1208 or email at [email protected]

Kerry Jack, Black Letter Communications on 07525 756 599 or email at [email protected]

Notes to editors:

CILEX (The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives) is one of the three main professional bodies covering the legal profession in England and Wales. The approximately 18,000 -strong membership is made up of CILEX Lawyers, Chartered Legal Executives, paralegals and other legal professionals.

CILEX pioneered the non-university route into law and recently launched the CILEX Professional Qualification (CPQ), a new approach to on-the-job training that marries legal knowledge with the practical skills, behaviours and commercial awareness needed by lawyers in the 2020s.

The CPQ is a progressive qualification framework that creates a workforce of specialist legal professionals, providing a career ladder from Paralegal through to Advanced Paralegal and ultimately full qualification as a CILEX Lawyer. CILEX Lawyers can become partners in law firms, coroners, judges or advocates in open court.

CILEX members come from more diverse backgrounds than other parts of the legal profession:

76% of its lawyers are women
16% are from ethnic minority backgrounds
- 8% are Asian or Asian British
- 5% are Black or Black British
- 3% are from a mixed ethnic background
77% attended state schools
63% come from families where neither parent attended university
Only 3% of its members have a parent who is a lawyer.

CILEX members are regulated through an independent body, CILEx Regulation. It is the only regulator covering paralegals.