The main ingredients to a good case are a fully completed application with accompanying documents that match the application perfectly. The recipe calls for you to take a good in-depth look at that information required, checking it looks real and authentic.

You are expected to double check and question the evidence, especially if it looks odd, and record that you did those checks.

DIPs should only be used if you know the case fits criteria, and not to check if it does fit. Too many DIPs that come to nothing or applications submitted that fall away at offer or completion could count against you.

I think we can all agree that it is a tougher regime now, but there is a bright side to all this extra prep work, it actually saves time in the end by getting the information all up front, and avoids last minute delays at exchange and completion.

In truth these are not my words, they come directly from those that have changed the dynamics of their business to make sure all this prep is done before anything goes anywhere.

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They have reported that this has ended up saving them time once the process is in place and they haven’t looked back. It would be fair to say that they didn’t initially believe this would be the case, but are pleased to say they do now.

We have had to accept that the new way of working is more about the need to protect your business and the people that work for you, because the risk of ignoring the quality aspect is huge. It will be here for good as most lenders now have now the data reports to check every quirk and aspect of your mortgage business and match it against the average trend.

So my message is don’t just throw all the raw ingredients in together, use the proper recipe, focus on preparing the ingredients correctly to ensure the end product is perfect.

Sally Laker is managing director of Mortgage Intelligence and Mortgage Next