Certificate of title on a Kensington Mortgages mortgage
The document on which Kensington Mortgages releases funds, what giving it commits the firm to, and what has to be true before it is submitted.
- Topic
- Certificate of title
- Jurisdiction
- England & Wales
- 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 certificate of title means here
The certificate a conveyancer gives to a lender confirming that the title is good and marketable and that the lender’s requirements have been met. It is the document on which the lender releases funds, and giving it triggers the conveyancer’s liability to the lender.
The general position on certificate of title 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.
What has to be in place
What it certifies
The certificate confirms that the title is good and marketable and that the lender’s instructions have been complied with. It is a representation to the lender, and the firm is liable to the lender on it.
Timing
It is submitted so that funds can be drawn for completion, which means every requirement it certifies must already be satisfied. It is not a document to send while something is still outstanding.
Disclosure
Anything the lender would want to know that does not fit the certificate’s wording has to be reported and the lender’s response obtained. A missed disclosure is a breach of duty, not an administrative oversight.
Part 1 and Part 2 together
Part 1 of the Handbook is common to lenders; Part 2 is that lender’s own requirements and overrides. Certifying against Part 1 alone is certifying against the wrong instructions.
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
Part 2 of the Handbook carries each lender's own requirements and its overrides of Part 1, and it is amended without notice. These are the points where the answer is Kensington Mortgages's rather than general practice:
- The Part 2 requirements in force on the date the certificate is submitted
- Whether the lender requires any additional confirmations alongside the certificate
- The notice period the lender requires between certificate and drawdown
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.