EU members will have two years and 20 days to implement the directive after the final legislation is voted on this autumn. However, in that time, the FCA must draw up a policy statement explaining how the directive will be implemented in the UK.
Building Societies Association head of mortgage policy Paul Broadhead said lenders could not begin implementing the new rules until they knew how the FCA would interpret them:
“Once the vote happens, we need to make sure all the UK authorities work together as collaboratively and quickly as possible to come up with a solution that gives us the maximum time to implement it.”
His work with the FCA and the Treasury encouraged him to think this could happen, he added: “We are pretty much on the same page.”
Typically, the FCA aims to give firms at least 12 months notice to make changes ahead of new rules.
Brokers are expected to see only slight changes when the EU mortgage directive is implemented, such as making additional declarations and providing details of all proc fees if asked.
However, lenders fear that replacing the Key Facts Illustration with a standardised EU document could cost them millions of pounds.
