The Council of Mortgage Lenders have updated their handbook from 1st February.
The update is to clause 10 of the Lenders’ Handbook is “designed to reflect the introduction of a requirement, as the result of the Mortgage Credit Directive, for mortgage customers to have a ‘reflection period’, of at least seven days before accepting a mortgage offer. Recital 23 and Article 14(6) of the Directive set this out. The customer can bring that reflection period to an end earlier, by accepting the mortgage offer.”
Clause 10.2 now states: “10.2 We shall treat the submission by you of the certificate of title as confirmation that the borrower has chosen to proceed with our mortgage offer and as a request for us to release the mortgage advance to you. Check part 2 to see if the mortgage advance will be paid electronically or by cheque and the minimum number of days’ notice we require.”
The statement covering the change in clause 10 continues: “The wording intends to clarify that, in cases where the mortgage lender does not already require a formal acceptance from the borrower, that the current practice of the conduct of borrower in drawing down the loan, acts as acceptance of the mortgage offer, and creates the contract; this in turn, in cases where the draw-down happens before the end of the reflection period, confirms that the customer has brought the reflection period to an end by their conduct, which Recital 23 expressly allows for.
“Lenders will explain the concept of the reflection period in information provided to prospective borrowers, for example, in the mortgage illustration, mortgage offer and mortgage terms and conditions. Many lenders are either allowing a 10 day reflection period (to account for postage time) or aligning the reflection period with the existing offer expiry date (which can be up to 6 months).
“We have consulted with the legal sector and the financial services regulator (FCA) on this amendment.”
