NatWest Intermediary Solutions has introduced a withdrawal fee of £150 for customers who do not proceed to completion after receiving an offer.

If a customer has paid the product fee (typically £995) up front, this will be refunded after the £150 withdrawal fee payment has been deducted. The fee will be payable on all residential and buy-to-let purchase and remortgage applications.

No withdrawal fee will be payable if a customer decides not to proceed with an application before an offer has been made or if NatWest declines the application after offer.

Sarah Taylor, service development manager at NatWest Intermediary Solutions, said: “This is a positive move to reflect the fast-moving circumstances that brokers and their clients can find themselves in.

“There are a number of reasons why a customer decides to withdraw their mortgage application after they have received an offer –their chain breaks down, they have a change of heart over the property they intended to buy or they find a more suitable deal elsewhere. If this decision is made after they have received a mortgage offer, a quantifiable amount of work will already have been completed to process their application.

“We believe that this new standard fee will be welcomed as a fair and transparent one.”