Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s New UAD 3.6 Appraisal Submission Requirement Takes Effect

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s new appraisal submission requirement took effect Monday, November 2, 2026, changing the format lenders ordinarily must use when sending new residential appraisal reports to the mortgage companies. Under the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) 3.6 mandate, new reports delivered through the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP) must use the redesigned standard, unless the submitting lender has obtained a temporary policy exception.

The compliance date is tied to when a report is first submitted to UCDP. An appraisal ordered or completed before November 2 does not automatically qualify for the old format if its initial submission occurs after that date. That distinction matters for mortgage pipelines in which the property inspection, appraisal preparation and electronic submission can fall on different days.

The change is the latest phase of a project Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac began in 2018 under the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. It replaces a collection of fixed appraisal forms with a more flexible reporting framework designed to make property information more consistent and easier to process electronically. The companies have also allowed a limited transition for lenders whose systems are not ready, rather than ending every legacy submission on the mandate date.

A redesigned appraisal report and a different submission file

The new format centers on the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report, or URAR. Instead of choosing a separate conventional form according to property and inspection type, appraisers use a dynamic report whose content follows the characteristics of the property and the appraisal assignment. The dataset aligns with version 3.6 of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization reference model.

That is more than a change in how a finished appraisal looks. Older reports could rely on narrative addenda to supply information that did not fit the available form fields. UAD 3.6 is intended to capture more of the relevant property and market information in defined data elements, allowing lenders and the mortgage companies to review it more consistently. Fannie Mae describes the shift in its official UAD program materials.

The electronic delivery package changes as well. Under the previous UAD 2.6 format, lenders submitted an XML file with an embedded PDF. A UAD 3.6 submission instead uses a ZIP package containing the XML data, a PDF rendering of the URAR and an image folder for accompanying photographs. These are requirements for the appraisal file submitted to UCDP, not new documents that a homeowner must assemble.

The portal also keeps the two generations of appraisal data separate. A report originally submitted under UAD 2.6 cannot later be revised under UAD 3.6 using the same document file identifier. Lenders must preserve the original standard when making permitted corrections to an existing report, which is one reason the transition includes separate rules for new submissions and revisions.

Adoption started well before this week’s mandate. The agencies opened UAD 3.6 to all lenders in a broad production phase on January 26, 2026, giving institutions time to test the new files, coordinate with appraisal management companies and confirm that their software providers could produce compliant reports. The November deadline turns that earlier optional rollout into the standard requirement for new submissions.

A one-time exception keeps UAD 2.6 available to some lenders

The November 2 effective date does not mean every lender must immediately stop using UAD 2.6. In a policy change announced September 30, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac established a one-time exception for sellers that could not complete implementation in time. It is a lender-specific accommodation rather than a general postponement of the UAD 3.6 mandate.

A lender seeking the exception was instructed to request it from each mortgage company to which it delivers loans. The Freddie Mac exception request, for example, calls for an authorized representative to identify readiness obstacles and commit to a final implementation plan. Those obstacles can involve loan origination systems, appraisal management companies, appraisers, ordering platforms or a lender’s own operations. The request is not satisfied merely by continuing to send old-format reports.

Lenders covered by the exception may submit new UAD 2.6 appraisal reports through May 19, 2027. They may also submit UAD 3.6 reports during the transition, so the extension does not require a lender to remain on the old standard until its final day. Institutions that were ready for the November mandate are expected to continue with their implementation rather than treat the exception as a new industrywide effective date.

The relief becomes less favorable on March 1, 2027. From that date through May 19, Freddie Mac says UAD 2.6 reports submitted by exception holders will receive a collateral risk score of 99 from Loan Collateral Advisor. Loans supported by those reports will no longer qualify for collateral representation and warranty relief for value. In practical terms, the companies are allowing additional time to submit the legacy format without maintaining all of the associated collateral-risk protections.

That reduced-functionality period creates a meaningful reason to finish conversion before the formal exception expires. The extension preserves a submission route for institutions still managing software and operational changes, but it does not preserve the same appraisal-related risk treatment throughout the entire period. Freddie Mac expressly encourages sellers to complete their UAD 3.6 transition before March 1.

The final deadlines for legacy appraisals

For lenders, appraisers and software providers, the immediate work is operational: producing the redesigned report, checking file structure, coordinating delivery and interpreting UCDP feedback. An appraisal that is sound as a valuation can still fail submission checks if its data package does not meet the required technical standard. The agencies have published readiness kits, training and reporting guidance to support that work.

For homebuyers and homeowners, UAD 3.6 is principally a change to the appraisal reporting process behind a mortgage. The rule does not itself establish a new mortgage interest rate, a new national home-price measure or a blanket requirement that every mortgage receive a traditional appraisal. Its direct scope is the reports submitted through the agencies’ collateral portal, and any effect on an individual loan’s processing depends on the lender’s readiness and the appraisal involved.

Beginning May 20, 2027, new appraisal submissions must use UAD 3.6 even for lenders that received an exception. UAD 2.6 remains available for a narrower purpose until June 27: resubmitting an appraisal that was already submitted in the legacy format. A new appraisal first filed under UAD 2.6 during that interval will receive a fatal UCDP finding and an unsuccessful submission status.

The distinction between a new report and a resubmission is central to the timetable. A lender fixing or updating an existing UAD 2.6 file may use the established document file identifier during the permitted revision period. It cannot use that allowance to introduce an entirely new legacy appraisal. On June 28, 2027, UAD 2.6 reaches full retirement and the portal will stop processing reports in that format.