Underwriting guidelines change rapidly. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to the Fannie Mae Selling Guide at Selling Guide | Fannie Mae or for Freddie Mac at Guide Home. This post focuses on Fannie Mae requirements and the published GSE timeline for UAD 3.6. Exception terms are set by the lender letters themselves, so confirm your own status against Fannie Mae Lender Letter LL-2026-08 and Freddie Mac Guide Bulletin 2026-J.
For years, an underwriter could glance at the top of an appraisal, see a 1004 or a 1073, and know exactly where to look for what. On November 2, 2026, that shortcut ends. Every new appraisal submitted through the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP) for a loan headed to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac must use the new Uniform Appraisal Dataset 3.6 (UAD 3.6) and the redesigned Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (URAR).
This is more than a new form. It is a new data structure, a new delivery package, and a new set of places where a file can go wrong. Whether your shop is ready or has asked for more time, your underwriters and QC reviewers need to know what they are looking at now.
What Actually Changes
The traditional collection of form numbers gives way to one dynamic URAR that expands or contracts to fit the assignment. Published summaries from appraiser trade groups describe the new report as replacing the 1004, 1073, 1025, 2055, and 1075 and their condo, co-op, manufactured home, and exterior-only variants. Three practical changes follow:
The form number no longer tells you the data standard. A report is judged by the dataset it was submitted under, not by its look. Engagement letters now need to say whether the lender expects UAD 2.6 or UAD 3.6.
The delivery package changes. Reports arrive as a package that includes an XML data file, a PDF, and the property images, built on the MISMO v3.6 standard. Comments sit next to the data they explain.
Automated review rules written for old field positions do not carry over cleanly. If your QC checklists or vendor rules were built around UAD 2.6 fields, they need to be rebuilt, not just renamed.
The Selling Guide has been moving in step. Rental income requirements in B3-3.8-01, General Rental Income Information now tell lenders to follow the UAD 3.6 Policy Supplement, and the rent schedule that used to live on its own form is described in appraiser guidance as absorbed into the new report.
Highest and Best Use Gets a Tighter Definition
The September update, SEL-2026-08, changed what the appraisal must say about use. For UAD 3.6 reports, the property's highest and best use, as improved or as proposed, must be a residential use. The announcement defines present use, residential use, and subordinate use, and replaces the older "residential in nature" language with a requirement for a primarily residential one- to four-unit property with any non-residential use subordinate to the residential use. It also sets eligibility and reporting requirements for properties where the present use fails one or more highest-and-best-use tests.
The change applies to UAD 3.6 reports only. It does not apply to reports completed on legacy forms. That is one more reason to know, file by file, which dataset you are holding.
The Exception Window: Not a Delay
On September 30, Fannie Mae issued LL-2026-08 and Freddie Mac issued Bulletin 2026-J, creating a temporary exception for sellers who cannot meet the November 2 requirement. It is not a delay of the mandate. Only sellers who deal directly with the GSEs may request it, and brokers do not. Published summaries describe the timeline this way:
November 2, 2026 through February 28, 2027: approved sellers may submit either dataset.
March 1 through May 19, 2027: a "reduced functionality" period. UAD 2.6 reports are still accepted under the exception, but with a Collateral Underwriter score of 999 and no representation and warranty relief for value.
May 20, 2027: the window closes for new UAD 2.6 submissions. Resubmissions of previously delivered UAD 2.6 reports run through June 27, and from June 28 no UAD 2.6 report is processed.
Those dates come from published summaries of the lender letters. Confirm them against LL-2026-08 before you build a plan around them. Note also that revisions to a report first submitted in UAD 2.6 before November 2 can stay in UAD 2.6.
The reduced functionality period is the part to watch. A lender that coasts on the exception through the spring is delivering collateral without value relief, which turns an appraisal defect from a nuisance into an exposure.
Where QC Will Find the Defects
Wrong dataset for the delivery date. A new report submitted on or after November 2 in UAD 2.6 without an approved exception will be rejected.
No exception on file, or the wrong entity holds it. An aggregator that buys from correspondents needs to know whether each originator is submitting UAD 3.6 or has its own exception.
Engagement letters that do not name the dataset. Form numbers no longer signal it.
Appraisal vendor not verified for UAD 3.6. Confirm your AMC and appraisers are ready, and that your LOS and investors have completed the related ULDD changes needed for UCDP submission.
Highest and best use not addressed on a UAD 3.6 report. Look for the use analysis and for any property where the present use is not primarily residential.
Stale review checklists. Condition and quality ratings, comparables, adjustments, and gross living area are still reported, but in a different layout. A checklist that points to the old location produces false comfort.
Rent data lost in the move. For two- to four-unit principal residences and investment properties, eligible market rent must still be reported to Fannie Mae, so confirm where it now lives in the report.
The "Why" Behind the UAD 3.6 Refresher
Why spend a post on a data standard? Because the appraisal is the collateral, and the collateral is what the secondary market actually buys. When the format changes, the first thing to break is not the appraiser. It is the review process that depended on knowing where everything was. A lender that discovers that gap after delivery has discovered it at the worst possible time.
The Commonwealth Group: Precision. Integrity. Results.
A new report format is exactly when an experienced second set of eyes pays for itself. At The Commonwealth Group, our contract underwriting and quality control teams review the appraisal for what it says, not just where it says it, and we keep our checklists current when the standards move. We do not just follow the guide; we know what to do when the guide is not enough.
Ready to go beyond the guide?
Contact Martin Luplow at The Commonwealth Group – info@thecommonwealth.net for more information on what our team of professionals in processing and underwriting can do for your company.
The Commonwealth Group – Innovative Services for the Mortgage Industry
West Beibers, CMB, AMP, CRU
Chief Executive Officer
The Commonwealth Group Companies