UAD 3.6 in plain English: what changes on the report underwriters read?

Same job, different places to look

If you want the general tour of UAD 3.6 and which old forms retire, start with what UAD 3.6 and the new URAR are. This post is narrower. It is about what you and your underwriter will actually read differently when the new report lands in the file.

The big idea: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac describe the new report as a single, data-driven, dynamic structure. Instead of picking a form, the property's data shapes the report. A condo shows condo sections. A house with an ADU gets a separate unit interior section for the ADU.

That is great for accuracy and briefly terrible for muscle memory. Every underwriter who could find the condition comment on page 2 of a 1004 with their eyes closed is about to open their eyes.

What has not changed is the core of the job. The value still comes from comparable sales and adjustments that must reflect the market's reaction. Fannie Mae's rule that adjustments must reflect the market's reaction did not retire with the old forms.

Condition now shows up in more than one place

The C1 to C6 and Q1 to Q6 scales stayed the same, but Freddie Mac says the definitions were rewritten for clarity. Here is what is new in the report:

• Interior and exterior ratings. Interior and exterior condition and quality ratings were added, and the ratings now apply to all residential property types, including manufactured homes.
• Kitchens and baths, one by one. For each kitchen and bathroom, the appraiser reports an update status, a time frame and a condition status. New construction is now reported as Fully Updated, not Not Updated.
• An as-is rating on subject-to reports. When the appraisal is made subject to repairs, an as-is overall condition rating shows the house's condition today.

For an underwriter, this means condition is no longer one letter and a sentence. It is a set of answers that have to agree with each other. Freddie Mac's own review notes flag reports where missing flooring was described but the recommended action said "None." Expect underwriters to notice when the kitchen is rated one way and the overall rating says another.

For borrowers with a remodeled house, this is good news. A new kitchen now has a field of its own instead of hiding in a comment.

Defects get their own table

Under the old forms, problems lived wherever the appraiser decided to write about them. Under UAD 3.6, Freddie Mac says defects, damages and deficiencies are captured as discrete data, with photos of physical defects.

Each entry has the same columns:

• Feature and location
• Description
• Whether it affects soundness or structural integrity, yes or no
• Recommended action

That table covers the site, the exterior, the unit interior, outbuildings, vehicle storage and amenities. For a loan officer, it is the first thing to read when a report comes in subject to repairs. It tells you what was found, where, and whether the appraiser thinks it touches safety or structure, which is the line Fannie Mae uses for when an appraisal must be made subject to repairs.

My advice: read the defects table the day the report arrives, not the day before closing. A "yes" in the soundness column is a conversation with your borrower, the agents and possibly a contractor. It is a much nicer conversation with three weeks of runway than with three hours.

A decoder for the new words

Several familiar labels were renamed. Freddie Mac says some UAD 2.6 terms, with gross living area as the big example, are no longer represented. Here is the short decoder:

The general addendum is gone too. Commentary now lives in fields inside each section. So when an underwriter asks "where did the appraiser explain the time adjustment," the answer is in the section where the adjustment lives, not at the back.

Update your condition templates. A condition asking the appraiser to "revise GLA" now asks about a label the report no longer uses. It will still get answered. It will just get answered with a sigh.

The dates, and what government loans are doing

Conventional loans sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. UAD 3.6 is mandatory for all new appraisal reports submitted to the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP) on or after November 2, 2026. The trigger is the report's UCDP submission date, not the loan application or the appraisal's effective date. A lender that can't meet the mandate has to request a policy exception from each GSE. Loans with UAD 2.6 reports can still be sold after 2.6 retires.

FHA. As of early October 2026, FHA opened optional UAD 3.6 delivery to approved lenders and had not set a mandatory date. During the optional period, each FHA case number has to stay in one format for all its appraisal submissions.

VA and USDA. The GSEs say they worked with FHA, VA and USDA to include those agencies' requirements in UAD 3.6, and tell lenders to contact each agency for its own plan. Ask your investor or agency contact before assuming the GSE date applies to a government file.

What to do before November 2

1. Find out which version each file will submit in. A report that first hits UCDP on November 2 or later has to be 3.6, even if you ordered it in October.
2. Rewrite your condition templates with the new terms, and point them at the right section instead of the addendum.
3. Teach the defects table to processors and underwriters, so repair conditions come from what the appraiser actually reported.
4. Check government files separately. FHA, VA and USDA move on their own timelines.
5. Tell borrowers what has not changed. New layout, same evidence. The value still comes from sales.

I teach a two-hour UAD 3.6 class that walks through the old report, the new one, and where everything moved. If you want the short version for your team, my free UAD 3.6 Class Workbook is on the free guides page. Hand it to your processors. They will thank you, or at least stop asking where the addendum went.