Buy-to-let conveyancing, and where Kensington Mortgages answers for itself
Most of what governs buy-to-let conveyancing is the same whoever the lender is. This page separates that from the points where the answer is Kensington Mortgages's own.
- Topic
- Buy-to-let conveyancing
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- Kensington Mortgages Part 2 last changed
- 2026
- Years with a change
- 10 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.
Buy-to-let conveyancing, in plain terms
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.
Two things decide how buy-to-let conveyancing goes: the general law, which is settled, and the lender's requirement, which is not, and which the lender can change between the offer and completion.
What follows is a working note rather than a summary of the law. It separates the parts that hold on any buy-to-let conveyancing matter from the parts that depend on Kensington Mortgages, because those are the two things a conveyancer needs to keep apart when a file is open.
The steps on a Kensington Mortgages buy-to-let conveyancing, in order
Establish what may be let, before what will be let
The lease and the local authority both decide whether this property can be let at all, and they decide it independently of the mortgage. Answer those two before spending time on the tenancy terms, because a no from either ends the conversation.
Read the tenancy the lender wants, not the one the client has
Lenders set a form, a term and a list of exclusions. Where a tenant is already in place, the existing agreement is measured against that list rather than carried over, and a purchase that works vacant can fail with someone living there.
Find out whether the address needs a licence
Licensing is set street by street rather than nationally, and schemes are introduced and withdrawn without much warning. It is a question about this property, asked of this council, and answered before exchange rather than after.
Say who is going to live there
A borrower housing a relative is the most common breach of buy-to-let terms and rarely feels like one at the time. If it is even being considered, it belongs in the conversation now, while there are still products that permit it.
How often Kensington Mortgages moves the answers above
Everything above says which points Kensington Mortgages decides for itself. This is how often it has decided them differently.
Counted from the Lexsure Part 2 change record. Kensington Mortgages has changed its Part 2 in 10 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 Kensington Mortgages's own answers
One document sets out what a conveyancer has to do before Kensington Mortgages 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 settled half
- A single document covering what has to be investigated on any mortgage matter, and what has to be reported back before funds are released.
- It moves slowly and in public, so a change to it is news rather than a surprise.
Knowing Part 1 tells a conveyancer how the work is done, not what this particular lender wants.
Part 2
The half Kensington Mortgages controls
- Kensington Mortgages sets its own position here on the points Part 1 hands to it, and can revise that position whenever it decides to.
- A requirement that applied on the last matter may not apply on this one, and there is no notice period in which to notice.
This is the half worth checking on the day rather than remembering.
A conveyancer who acted on a Kensington Mortgages matter last year may or may not be working from current requirements. The years below are what decides that.
Part 2 changes have been recorded for Kensington Mortgages in every year since 2009. 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: Kensington Mortgages has made 1,060 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.
What to confirm with Kensington Mortgages rather than assume
The rest of this page holds wherever the mortgage comes from. The following do not: they are Kensington Mortgages's own positions, set out in Part 2 and revisable at any time:
- Whether the lease permits letting, and whether the landlord charges for consent
- The tenancy form and term the lender requires, and the tenant types it excludes
- Whether an existing tenancy is acceptable and what evidence has to be produced
- Whether a licence must be granted before completion or merely applied for
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 Kensington Mortgages.