UK Finance Limited a company incorporated in England and Wales with company number 10250295 and with its registered office at 1 Angel Court, London, England, EC2R 7HJ ("UK Finance", "we", "us") provides access to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook (“Handbook”) in digital form (the “Service”).  The following terms and conditions ("Terms") set out the terms upon which UK Finance has agreed provide the Service for non-commercial purposes.

Please read these Terms carefully before you start to use the Service. By using the Service at any time, you confirm that you agree (and you will be treated as though you have agreed) to these Terms (as they are in force at that time).

The Disclaimers at Clause 7 apply to you and are also relevant to the mortgage advisory company or other legal or property advisory organisation as the case may be, for whom you work or whom you represent (the “Firm”), as applicable. By accessing the Service, you confirm that you have read and understand these Disclaimers. 

If you would like to learn more about how we address and reduce the risk of illegal content on the Service, please see Clause 5.

1. How to contact us and how we will contact you

1.1 You can contact us via email at: [email protected]

1.2 We will contact you using the email address with which you register when opening an account on the Service.   

2. Information about you and your privacy

2.1 Your privacy is important to us. You should read our Privacy Policy to understand how we collect, use and share information about you available at: https://beta-lendershandbook.ukfinance.org.uk/privacy-notice. You should also read our Cookie Policy at https://beta-lendershandbook.ukfinance.org.uk/cookie-policy to understand how we use cookies within the Service.

2.2 To ensure quality, and in order for us to improve the Service and monitor  compliance with the Terms (the “Permitted Purpose”) we collect data arising from your use of the Service including, without limitation, activity logs, internet protocol (IP) address, login data, browser type, time zone, and operating system (“User Data”). User Data may be generated or derived automatically by the Service, or manually.

2.3 For the avoidance of doubt, we will use User Data for the Permitted Purpose only and will only share the User Data with our employees, officers and third parties such as our subcontractors (including, without limitation, our website hosting provider), representatives and advisers only to the extent required for the Permitted Purpose. For the avoidance of doubt, and without prejudice to the generality, UK Finance must not share any User Data with any mortgage lenders.

3. Your Account 

3.1 To use the Service, you must have completed the registration process and have opened an account on the Service. 

3.2 You acknowledge that the Service is accessed by the mortgage lenders, subject always to Clause 2.3, who use the Service to populate their respective sections of part 2 of the Handbook. 

4. Use of the Service and the Handbook

4.1 Except as expressly provided in these Terms, you may access the Service for your own personal educational purposes only, and not for any business, professional, commercial or other non-personal use.

4.2 To the extent you work for or represent a Firm, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sub-licensable, revocable right to access and use the Service:

4.2.1 for your internal professional and business purposes or those of the Firm which shall include:

4.2.1.1 advising your clients or those of the Firm in accordance with the terms of any conveyancing, legal advisory or other professional engagement you or the Firm agrees with those clients; and

4.2.1.2 uses ancillary to the activities described in Clause 4.2.1.1, including use in case management systems, AI tools and for internal training; and

4.2.2 to make available to your clients or those of the Firm copies of materials that contain limited extracts of the Handbook on a reasonable, non-systematic basis that is not commercially prejudicial to UK Finance and only when necessary for the purpose described in Clause 4.2.1.

4.3 If instead you are acting for purposes wholly or mainly outside your trade, business, education, craft or profession then our Public Access Terms of Service will apply instead.

4.4 Your permission to use the Service is given to you personally.  You are not allowed to transfer the Service to anyone else, for free or for money. 

4.5 Except as expressly provided in these Terms, you shall not:

4.5.1 use the Service or the Handbook (wholly or in part) in your or the Firm’s products or services; 

4.5.2 resell, or enable the resale of, the Service or the Handbook (wholly or in part); and

4.5.3 use the Service or the Handbook or any other UK Finance services, materials or intellectual property rights provided or accessed under these Terms in any manner or for any purpose. 

4.6 You must use the Service and the Handbook in accordance with these Terms.

4.7 Support requests in relation to the Service (“Support Request”) can be logged by sending them by email to [email protected]. 

5. Illegal content

5.1 Illegal content includes:

5.1.1 Terrorism content (including content that constitutes an offence under terrorism legislation);

5.1.2 Child sexual exploitation and abuse content (“CSEA content”); and

5.1.3 Content relating to assisting suicide, threats to kill, public order offences, harassment, stalking and fear or provocation of violence, drugs and psychoactive substances, firearms and other weapons, assisting illegal immigration, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, sexual images, proceeds of crime, fraud, financial services, foreign interference, animal welfare and offences relating to being involved in committing any of these offences (known as inchoate offences).

5.2 This provision sets out what we do to protect you from illegal content as described above. 

5.3 We operate proportionate systems and processes designed to:

5.3.1 prevent users from encountering illegal content on the Service; 

5.3.2 minimise the length of time for which any such content is present on the Service; and

5.3.3 where UK Finance is alerted by a person to the presence of any illegal content, or becomes aware of it in any other way, promptly take down such content.

5.4 Such systems and processes include:

5.4.1 restricting content posting rights to a defined list of mortgage lenders;

5.4.2 having in place contracts with those mortgage lenders requiring them not to post, upload or otherwise make available any illegal content through the Service;

5.4.3 content moderation and review processes (including automated and/or manual review);

5.4.4 mechanisms enabling users to report suspected illegal or non-compliant content;

5.4.5 risk assessment and mitigation measures in respect of user-uploaded content; and

5.4.6 promptly suspending, restricting or removing content and/or user accounts, as appropriate in the context; and 

5.4.7 training of personnel and staff policies regarding the above processes.

5.5 You can report or complain about the following content and behaviours by emailing us at [email protected] :

5.5.1 content you consider to be illegal;

5.5.2 when you think we are not dealing with illegal content or activity as we should;

5.5.3 where you think our content reporting systems and processes do not easily let users report content they believe to be illegal;

5.5.4 when you think we have insufficiently considered the importance of protecting users' rights to freedom of expression or privacy;

5.5.5 where your content has been taken down on the basis that it is illegal (this is only relevant if the Service allows you to generate, share or upload content);

5.5.6 where we have given you a warning, suspended, banned or restricted you in any way as a result of your content which we consider to be illegal content (this is only relevant if the Service allows you to generate, share or upload content) or

5.5.7 technology we use results in your content being taken down, access-restricted or deprioritised and you think the technology has been used in a way not set out in our Terms (this is only relevant if the Service allows you to generate, share or upload content).

5.6 We will handle your report or complaint in accordance with our Complaints Handling Policy.

5.7 If the Service allows you to generate, share or upload content and we restrict access to any content you generate or upload to or share on our Service in a way that breaches these Terms, you have a right to bring a claim against us for breach of contract.

5.8 If we suspend or ban you from using our Service in a way that breaches these Terms, you have a right to bring a claim against us for breach of contract.

6. Restrictions on your use of the Service

6.1 You shall:

6.1.1 only make copies of the Service and the Handbook as expressly permitted in these Terms and to the extent reasonably necessary for the following purposes: back-up, mirroring (and similar availability enhancement techniques), security, disaster recovery, testing and evidencing compliance with the requirements of mortgage lenders and any relevant regulation;

6.1.2 not use the Service or Handbook for any purpose contrary to any law or regulation or any regulatory code, guidance or request;

6.1.3 not extract, reutilise, use, exploit, redistribute, re-disseminate, re-sell, sub-license, transfer, disclose, copy or store the Service or Handbook except as expressly permitted in these Terms;

6.1.4 except to the extent permitted by any applicable law, not copy, modify, decompile, reverse engineer or create derivative works from any software forming part of the Service; 

6.1.5 not do anything which may damage the reputation of UK Finance, the Handbook or the Service, including by way of using the Service (wholly or in part) in any manner which is pornographic, racist or that incites religious hatred or violence;

6.1.6 not use the Service to knowingly access, store, distribute or transmit or prepare for distribution or transmission any virus or malware; 

6.1.7 not use the Service in a manner that is illegal or causes damage or injury to any person or property (including dealing in, accessing, storing, distributing, transmitting or preparing for distribution or transmission any illegal content (as described in Clause 5), or to infringe any intellectual property rights of any person; 

6.1.8 not interfere with or attempt to interfere with or compromise the Service’s integrity or security; and

6.1.9 not use the Service to build a product or service which competes with the Service or the Handbook or use or attempt to use the Service to directly compete with UK Finance. 

6.2 Unless you have our prior written consent, you are expressly prohibited from:

6.2.1 using any automated process, software, or script to extract, scrape, crawl or collect data or content from the Service or Handbook in any manner, including but not limited to the use of web crawlers, bots, or spiders; and

6.2.2 aggregating, collecting, or compiling data or content from the Service or Handbook for commercial or non-commercial purposes. This includes, but is not limited to, the use of content from the Service or Handbook to create databases, directories, or other aggregated content.

6.3 To the extent you import, download or share content with others, or to your own personal devices or email address, you are not allowed to use the Service:

6.3.1 to access or send any material that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, defamatory, obscene, infringing, harassing or racially or ethnically offensive or that comprises illegal content as described in Clause 5 above; 

6.3.2 in a manner that is illegal or causes damage or injury to any person or property; 

6.3.3 to infringe any intellectual property of any person; or

6.3.4 to access or send transmit, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (‘spam’).

6.4 To the extent that you or the Firm elects to incorporate, use or enable the use of any artificial intelligence (“AI”) technology in connection with your use of the Service or Handbook pursuant to Clause 4, you shall do so in compliance with all applicable law and regulation and with all relevant industry standard policies and procedures for the ethical and responsible use of AI technology.

7. Disclaimers

7.1 The disclaimers set out in this Clause 7 apply to you and are relevant to the Firm, as applicable.

7.2 The information provided by the Service including the Handbook is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, lending or other professional advice. UK Finance makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of the information contained on the Service for any purpose, not least as the Service is reliant on content provided by third party mortgage lenders.

7.3 Use of the Service does not create a solicitor-client relationship or any professional advisory relationship between UK Finance and you or the Firm. 

7.4 We are not responsible for any loss or damage arising from any reliance that you or the Firm, or your respective clients, may place on the information on the Service.

7.5 You acknowledge and agree that professional judgement and interpretation must be used when using and interpreting the Handbook, and you and the Firm thus assume sole responsibility for any decisions or actions taken by you, or the Firm or your or their respective clients in reliance on the Service or Handbook, or their respective contents.

7.6 We try to make sure that the Service is free from bugs and viruses, but we do not guarantee that it will be. Furthermore, we cannot guarantee that the Service will be fit or suitable for any purpose, and the Service is provided on an “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” basis.

7.7 UK Finance will not be responsible for any interruptions, delays, failures or non-availability affecting the Service which are caused by third party services (other than UK Finance’s own subcontractors), or errors or bugs in software, hardware or the internet on which UK Finance relies to provide the Service and you acknowledge that UK Finance does not control such third party services and that such errors and bugs are inherent in the use of such software, hardware and the Internet.

7.8 In addition, you and the Firm (as applicable) are solely responsible for procuring, maintaining and securing all network connections and telecommunications links necessary for you to access the Service.

7.9 If your access to the Service is suspended or terminated for any reason, UK Finance shall not be required to provide you with the Service or Handbook or any product, service or solution relating to the Handbook.

7.10 To the maximum extent permitted by law, UK Finance shall have no liability to you or the Firm for loss or damage arising from:

7.10.1 incorrect or unauthorised operation or use of the Service or the Handbook by you;

7.10.2 any modification of the Service or Handbook (other than that undertaken by UK Finance or at its direction); or

7.10.3 any breach of the Terms by you.

7.11 UK Finance is not responsible or liable for any use by you of the Service or Handbook in conjunction with any AI technologies.

7.12 All representations, warranties, conditions, and all other terms of any kind whatsoever implied by statute or common law are, to the fullest extent permitted by law, excluded from these Terms.

8. Limitation of our liability

8.1 Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so under applicable law. This includes death, personal injury, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors.

78.2 Subject to Clause 8.1, we shall not be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business or loss of profits, income or revenue), costs or expenses of any kind arising out of, or in connection with your, or your respective clients, use or inability to use the Service, or in connection with any error, omission, defect, computer virus or system failure, and regardless of whether we were made aware or ought to have been aware of the possibility of such losses.

8.3 Part 2 of the Handbook contains material uploaded by third party mortgage lenders. These third party mortgage lenders are responsible for ensuring that the material they upload complies with applicable law. We are not responsible for any error, omission or inaccuracy in the material.

9. Termination or Suspension by us

9.1 Without affecting any other right or remedy available to us, we may suspend or end your use of and access to the Service (or any part) by notice with immediate effect, or such longer notice as we may elect to give, if: 

9.1.1 we suspect that there has been any misuse of the Service or breach of the Terms by you and/or Firm;

9.1.2 we cease to provide, or intend to cease to provide, the Service or the Handbook;

9.1.3 we are required by law, by court or governmental or regulatory order; or

9.1.4 you and/or the Firm is in breach of applicable law, Clause 6, or infringe our intellectual property rights in the Service or the Handbook.

9.2 Without prejudice to its rights under this Clause 9, UK Finance will take steps to investigate any issue arising in connection with Clause 9.1 and may restore or continue to suspend access at UK Finance’s sole discretion.

10. Changes to these Terms

10.1 We may change these Terms from time to time. Any changes we may make to these Terms in the future will be posted on the Service. By continuing to use and access the Service following such changes, you agree to be bound by them.  Otherwise, no changes to these Terms shall be valid unless they are signed and agreed in writing by both parties.

11. Intellectual Property

11.1 All intellectual property rights in the Service and the Handbook belong to us or our licensors. 

11.2 The trade marks “UK Finance”, “The Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook” and related marks, names or logos belong to UK Finance.

11.3 All other trade marks, company names or logos on the Service are the property of their respective owners. Any use by you of these marks, names or logos may constitute an infringement of the owners' rights. 

12. General

12.1 These Terms do not give rise to any rights for any third parties.

12.2 Each of these Terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining Terms will remain in full force and effect.

12.3 No failure or delay by a party to exercise any right or remedy provided under these Terms or by law shall constitute a waiver of that or any other right or remedy, nor shall it preclude or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy.

12.4 You are not permitted to assign, transfer, charge, sub-contract or deal in any other manner with all or any of its rights or obligations under these Terms.

12.5 These Terms shall be governed and construed in accordance with English law. 

12.6 You and we irrevocably agree that the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute or claim that arises out of or in connection with these Terms or their subject matter or formation.