Buy-to-let conveyancing on a Godiva Mortgages mortgage
On buy-to-let conveyancing a firm is acting for the borrower and for Godiva Mortgages at once, and the two sets of instructions do not always ask for the same things.
- Topic
- Buy-to-let conveyancing
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Godiva Mortgages Part 2 last changed
- 2026
- Years with a change
- 9 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 means here
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.
Most of the delay on buy-to-let conveyancing comes from establishing what the lender wants before anyone starts drafting. Getting that answer early is usually worth more than any amount of chasing later.
Most of what goes wrong on buy-to-let conveyancing is not the drafting. It is an assumption about what Godiva Mortgages 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.
What is required on buy-to-let conveyancing where Godiva Mortgages is the lender
Start with the title, not the mortgage
Whether this property can be let is decided by the lease and by the council, and neither of them has read the mortgage offer. A flat whose lease forbids subletting cannot be let however the borrowing is arranged.
Match the tenancy to the lender, in writing
Each lender publishes the form of tenancy it accepts, how long it may run, and who may not be a tenant. Where the property comes with a tenant already, that agreement is checked against the list rather than assumed to pass with the keys.
Treat licensing as a local question
Selective and additional schemes are made by individual authorities and cover named streets or wards rather than whole regions. The answer for the last property tells you nothing about this one, and letting unlicensed exposes the landlord to a rent repayment order.
Settle who occupies before completion
Buy-to-let terms generally exclude the borrower and their relatives. Where a family member is the intended occupant, a regulated product may be needed instead, and that is a different application rather than a variation.
Report what you find, even when it is awkward
A restrictive lease, an inherited tenant or a licensing scheme are all reportable to the lender rather than matters to resolve quietly. A lender that learns after completion has a complaint about the certificate as well as about the property.
How often Godiva Mortgages moves the answers above
Everything above says which points Godiva Mortgages decides for itself. This is how often it has decided them differently.
Counted from the Lexsure Part 2 change record. Godiva Mortgages has changed its Part 2 in 9 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.
How Godiva Mortgages sets its own conveyancing requirements
On most mortgage matters the same firm acts for the borrower and for Godiva Mortgages, which means it is following a second set of instructions alongside yours. Those instructions are the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders' Handbook, and they are published in two parts.
Part 1
The same for every lender
- The general instructions that apply across the industry: what has to be investigated, what has to be reported, and what the certificate of title commits the firm to.
- Changes rarely, and changes are published.
Part 2
Godiva Mortgages’s own answers
- Where the lender sets its own position: what it accepts on indemnity policies, on new-build warranties, on occupiers and on much else.
- Amended by the lender without notice, which is why nothing on this site reproduces it.
Check the current version before relying on any requirement described anywhere, including here.
Part 1 is settled and Part 2 is the half that moves. This is the record of when Godiva Mortgages has moved it.
Part 2 changes have been recorded for Godiva Mortgages in every year since 2024. 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: Godiva Mortgages has made 415 changes to Part 2 sections since 2017, 8 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.
Godiva Mortgages's own position, and where it is published
A conveyancer who has done buy-to-let conveyancing before knows how the work goes. What they cannot know from memory is whether Godiva Mortgages still answers these the same way:
- Whether the lease permits letting at all, and what the landlord charges to consent
- The tenancy form, the permitted term, and any category of tenant excluded
- Whether the lender will accept a tenant already in occupation, and on what evidence
- Whether any licence must be in place, rather than applied for, before completion
- Whether letting to a relative is possible on any product the lender offers
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 Godiva Mortgages.