When reviewing an earlier property transaction or responding to a post completion complaint, relying only on NatWest’s current UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook instructions can produce the wrong answer.
Mortgage lenders amend their Part 2 requirements over time. What National Westminster Bank requires today may not be what it required when contracts were exchanged, the Certificate of Title was submitted or the mortgage completed.
The Lexsure National Westminster Bank Lender Archive provides access to the historical Part 2 record held for a selected date. It can therefore help solicitors, insurers and other professionals establish the lender instructions recorded as applying at the relevant point in a transaction.
What is the Lexsure NatWest Lender Archive?
Lexsure has monitored and retained historical mortgage lender requirements since 2007, although the precise period available varies between lenders.
The National Westminster Bank archive enables a user to select a transaction date and retrieve the bank’s complete recorded Part 2 requirements as in force on that date. A specific conveyancing issue can also be selected where wider market context is required.
The archive record includes:
- the complete Part 2 record captured as published;
- the date for which the record is held as applying;
- the date and time of capture;
- the source from which the record was obtained; and
- a persistent archive reference through which the record can be identified and reverified.
The records are retrieved from retained historical material. They are not reconstructed by working backwards from NatWest’s present requirements.
Investigating an earlier NatWest mortgage?
Select the relevant date to find the complete National Westminster Bank Part 2 record held as applying at that time.
Why historical NatWest instructions matter
Professional negligence claims and complaints
Suppose a problem emerges years after completion involving a defective lease, missing easement, planning issue or unusual title arrangement.
One question may be what NatWest instructed the conveyancer to do at the relevant time. The current handbook cannot answer that historical question if the bank has since changed its wording.
The applicable historical requirement may form an important part of the evidence. It must still be considered alongside the retainer, mortgage offer, correspondence, title documents, Report on Title and the advice given to the borrower.
Compliance with a lender instruction does not necessarily establish that the separate duty owed to the purchaser was satisfied. Equally, a difference between the historical and current wording does not by itself prove that the conveyancer acted incorrectly.
Lender panel and file reviews
A law firm responding to a lender enquiry, insurer review or panel audit may need to demonstrate what instructions it considered on an earlier file.
A dated historical record can help distinguish the instructions applying at that time from requirements introduced later. This is particularly important where an investigator is reviewing the file many years after the original conveyancer completed the work.
Our related article on when historical NatWest mortgage requirements may need to be checked considers the practical circumstances in which a conveyancer, insurer or former borrower may need access to the earlier handbook wording.
Understanding subsequent property problems
A homeowner may encounter a problem only when selling or remortgaging. A new lender might question a title feature that appeared to cause no difficulty during the original purchase.
That does not necessarily mean the first transaction was mishandled. The lenders may have different requirements, or the original lender may have changed its position. Establishing NatWest’s historical instructions provides a factual starting point for investigating what happened.
Which date should be checked?
Completion is often an obvious starting date, but it may not be the only material date.
Depending on the question being investigated, it may be necessary to consider:
- exchange of contracts;
- the date on which the issue was identified;
- submission of the Certificate of Title;
- the date of a report to the lender;
- completion; and
- a later post completion event.
Each date should be assessed against the particular instruction or alleged failure. A record applicable on completion should not automatically be treated as proof of the instructions applying at an earlier stage.
Topics available through the NatWest archive
The National Westminster Bank archive identifies historical records relevant to topics including:
- defective leases;
- absence of easements;
- absentee freeholders;
- estate rentcharges;
- flying freeholds;
- Japanese knotweed;
- freehold flats;
- ground rent escalation;
- missing Building Regulations approval;
- lack of planning permission; and
- service charges and major works.
A user can also obtain the complete Part 2 record for the chosen historical date, whether or not it contains express wording about the particular issue being investigated.
Why the complete Part 2 record matters
Extracting a single sentence from an old lender requirement can remove important context. An instruction may depend on another handbook provision, a mortgage offer condition or information available elsewhere in the transaction.
The complete Part 2 record allows the relevant wording to be considered as part of the lender’s wider instructions. It should then be reviewed alongside the common Part 1 provisions, the mortgage offer and any separate correspondence from NatWest.
This is particularly important where the investigation concerns whether the conveyancer was able to give an unqualified Certificate of Title. The answer may depend on more than one handbook provision.
Historical requirements and market context
In some cases, it may also be relevant to understand whether NatWest’s recorded position was common across the mortgage market or materially different from that of other lenders.
The fact that NatWest accepted a particular title issue does not necessarily mean that the property was readily mortgageable across the wider market. Mortgageability and marketability are connected. A property accepted by one lender may still present difficulties for a later buyer using another lender.
Where a specific issue is selected, the Lexsure Lender Archive can provide the recorded requirements of other lenders for the same date. This enables the historical NatWest wording to be placed in its contemporary market context without treating present day lender requirements as evidence of the earlier position.
A historical requirement provides evidence, not the entire answer
The archive establishes the lender requirement recorded for the selected date. It does not determine by itself whether a conveyancer breached a duty, whether the borrower received adequate advice or whether any alleged failure caused a recoverable loss.
Those questions require consideration of the full transaction file and the surrounding circumstances.
The historical lender record nevertheless answers an essential preliminary question: what did National Westminster Bank’s published Part 2 instructions say at the relevant time?
Check the requirement that actually applied
Today’s NatWest handbook cannot safely be used as a substitute for an earlier version.
The Lexsure National Westminster Bank Lender Archive provides a route to the dated Part 2 record retained for the transaction date being investigated.
For law firms, insurers and solicitors examining an earlier transaction, it offers a documented starting point rather than an assumption based on the bank’s present requirements.
For further background, read our guide to historical NatWest mortgage requirements and why the transaction date matters.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. A historical lender record must be considered alongside the applicable Part 1 instructions, mortgage offer, correspondence, transaction file and the advice given. The existence of a particular lender requirement does not by itself establish breach of duty, causation or loss.