As part of the pilot, lenders are provided with direct access to their application data. This will show the status of all applications to register their mortgage security, and should stop the process where lenders and panel managers contact conveyancers routinely to chase up updates on various cases.
Lenders will also be provided with a weekly update to ensure their information is up to date.
The lenders involved in the pilot
The ten lenders taking part in the pilot are: Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group, Nationwide Building Society, Santander, Barclays, HSBC, Coventry Building Society, Yorkshire Building Society, Virgin Money and TSB Bank.
Meanwhile the two conveyancing panel managers participating are LMS and Decision First.
Mike Harlow, deputy chief executive and director of customer and strategy at HM Land Registry, said that the new direct service “completes the picture” of where the registration of a mortgage has got to.
“Now [lenders] do not have to chase conveyancers unless something is genuinely at risk. This should save the industry millions of pounds a year and give time back to conveyancers.”
Rob Stevens, head of property risk at Nationwide Building Society, described the direct access as a “breakthrough moment”, which would help save both lenders and conveyancers time by reducing the level of back and forth between the two.
This was echoed by Charles Roe, director of mortgages at UK Finance, who said: “This is a welcome initiative, which should improve the home buying and selling process for lenders, conveyancers and buyers. We look forward to working with HM Land Registry and the lenders involved in the pilot to help make this a success, with a view to rolling the system out more widely in due course.”
