What Gen H requires on buy-to-let conveyancing
On buy-to-let conveyancing a firm is acting for the borrower and for Gen H at once, and the two sets of instructions do not always ask for the same things.
- Topic
- Buy-to-let conveyancing
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Gen H Part 2 last changed
- 2026
- Years with a change
- 6 of the 10 to 2026
- Handbook
- UK Finance · Part 1 & 2
Part 2 of the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook is amended by lenders without notice. Check the current version before relying on any requirement described here.
What buy-to-let conveyancing is, on a Gen H matter
Conveyancing on a property bought to be let rather than occupied. Lender requirements differ from residential lending, and Part 2 of the Handbook sets out what each lender expects on tenancies, licensing and permitted occupiers.
The general position on buy-to-let conveyancing is the same across the market. What differs is the lender's own requirement, and that sits in Part 2 of the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook rather than in general guidance.
Most of what goes wrong on buy-to-let conveyancing is not the drafting. It is an assumption about what Gen H would accept that turned out to be an assumption about what the last lender accepted, and it surfaces late enough to move a completion date.
The work behind buy-to-let conveyancing
Three rulebooks, not one
A let property answers to the mortgage conditions, to the lease if there is one, and to the local authority. They are set by different people and they do not defer to each other: a lender saying yes does not cure a lease saying no.
What tenancy the lender will accept
Most set a form, a minimum and maximum term, and a list of tenant types they exclude. Where the property is bought with someone already living in it, that tenancy has to be reported and measured against those terms rather than assumed to be inherited cleanly.
Whether the council licenses it
Selective and additional licensing is decided borough by borough and changes without much publicity. It is a question about this address rather than about this type of property, and it is answered before exchange rather than after.
Who is allowed to live there
Buy-to-let terms generally exclude the borrower and their family from occupying. Where a client is contemplating housing a relative, that conversation belongs before completion, because afterwards it is a breach rather than a question.
How often Gen H moves the answers above
The practical question is whether a conveyancer can work from what Gen H required last time. The record answers it.
Counted from the Lexsure Part 2 change record. Gen H has changed its Part 2 in 6 of the 10 years to 2026, most recently in 2026. Counted from the Lexsure Part 2 change record. A lender that revises Part 2 often is not a worse lender than one that leaves it alone: what the figure describes is how far you can rely on what applied last time.
Part 1, Part 2, and Gen H's own answers
One document sets out what a conveyancer has to do before Gen H releases the money, and it is written in two halves: an industry-wide part and a part the lender writes itself. Almost every surprising request on a mortgage file traces back to one of them.
Part 1
The industry-wide half
- Written once and applied to every lender in the scheme, which is why a conveyancer can act on a first matter for a lender they have never dealt with.
- It sets the investigation a firm has to carry out and the terms of the certificate of title it signs at the end of it.
- Amendments are consulted on and published, so a firm can see one coming.
Part 1 is the reason panel work is comparable between lenders at all.
Part 2
Where Gen H answers for itself
- Every question Part 1 leaves to the lender is answered here, in Gen H's own words: indemnity policies, new-build warranties, occupiers, retentions and the rest.
- It can be amended at any time and without notice, which is the whole reason a firm checks it per matter rather than per year.
- It is also where two lenders on the same transaction can want different things.
Nothing on this site reproduces a Part 2 answer. Read the current version before acting on any description of one.
Monitoring Part 2 for changes is what this site is for, so the monitoring record itself belongs on the page. This is Gen H's.
Part 2 changes have been recorded for Gen H in every year since 2021. A run that reaches the present is the case for reading the current version rather than working from the last matter, and it is the reason this site monitors Part 2 instead of reprinting it.
Counting the amendments rather than the years: Gen H has made 128 changes to Part 2 sections since 2017, 2 of them in 2026. One amendment can touch several sections, so this counts section changes rather than distinct sections, and revisions that moved nothing but the document’s own date are left out.
Counted from the Lexsure Part 2 change record supplied on 3 August 2026, which holds the years a lender’s Part 2 was amended rather than what any amendment said. 2026 is a part year, because the extract was taken partway through it. A lender that revises Part 2 often is not a worse lender than one that leaves it alone: what these figures describe is how far a conveyancer can rely on what applied last time, which is why the current version is the one to check.
This site says which Part 2 question holds a lender-specific answer rather than reprinting the answer. A stale copy of a requirement, on a page someone acts on, is worse than no copy.
Check these with Gen H before you rely on them
Everything above is general practice. The points below are the ones Gen H decides for itself, and it publishes those decisions in Part 2 rather than applying them privately:
- The tenancy form, the permitted term, and any excluded tenant categories
- Whether an existing tenancy is acceptable, and what evidence of it is required
- Whether letting to a family member is permitted on any terms
- Whether the lender requires a licence to be in place before completion
We do not reproduce Part 2 here. It is lender-specific, it changes without notice, and a stale copy of it on a page a conveyancer relies on is worse than no copy at all. LM04 tracks those changes.
Acting on this lender’s instructions
Panel membership decides whether a firm can act at all. LenderPanel maintains the directory borrowers search when choosing a conveyancer, including for Gen H.