The Intermediary – August 2025 - Flipbook - Page 11
RESIDENTIAL
Opinion
risk management
Specialist markets are equally
important. On 17th July, the
Government published an update
on the next phase of its Remediation
Acceleration Plan, first announced
in December 2024. The legislation,
set to be brought forward “as soon
as Parliamentary timetable allows,”
will require landlords of buildings 18
metres or more in height with unsafe
cladding to complete remediation
by the end of 2029, and landlords of
buildings 11 to 18 metres in height
to complete remediation by the end
of 2031.
Those who fail to comply without
reasonable excuse could face
unlimited fines or imprisonment.
New legislation will also give named
bodies, such as Homes England and
local authorities, powers to remediate
buildings with unsafe cladding if the
landlord fails to do so.
Understanding progress and
exposure will be crucial for lenders –
with very real financial implications
inevitably hiing in the next
few years.
Geing a grip on back books now
is imperative to manage refinancing
decisions, and up to date information
is now an absolute necessity.
Greater responsibility
My final point to illustrate the
breadth of challenges facing lenders
is about dealing with customers
who are coming to the end of their
product terms. The Financial
Conduct Authority’s (FCA) July
policy statement, PS25/11 Mortgage
Rule Review: First steps to simplify
our rules and increase flexibility,
introduces a new rule into the MCOB
Handbook “to clarify that firms must
deal fairly with customers whose
STEVE GOODALL
is managing director at e.surv
mortgage terms have expired.”
This states: “Firms must not take
repossession action unless all other
reasonable aempts to resolve
the position have failed. These
requirements are supported by the
Consumer Duty.”
While not a significant change
to previous expectations put on
lenders in this scenario, puing this
responsibility into regulation more
permanently strengthens the need for
lenders to calibrate their own capital
risk exposure.
Whether these properties
remain on their back books or are,
eventually, repossessed and sold,
accurate valuation maers. This
is perhaps particularly true for
building societies in the mid-tier,
whose liquidity is under constant
watch by the Prudential Regulation
Authority (PRA).
For lenders, developing a multidimensional understanding of all
these factors are critical. It enables
more accurate pricing of risk, beerinformed lending decisions, and
improved resilience of the back book
in the face of ongoing market and
regulatory shis. ●
August 2025 | The Intermediary
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