Paragon Mortgages Ltd Conveyancing Panel Information

The Council of Mortgage Lenders, together with Paragon Mortgages Ltd and other lenders developed a standard set of instructions where a conveyancer is acting for a lender such as Paragon Mortgages Ltd alone in a residential conveyancing transaction. These requirements are contained at Part 3 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook and are to be read together with Parts 1 & 2. The CML have published an example requirements letter to the borrower’s lawyer for use by the lender's conveyancer, and sets out to the borrower's conveyancer, the documentary and information requirements of the lender's panel conveyancer.

In operating open conveyancing panels, lenders such as Paragon Mortgages Ltd face a number of fraud and negligence risks. While there is no authoritative source of data on lender exposure to solicitor–led mortgage fraud, anecdotal evidence from lenders indicates exposure on individual cases are often in the millions of pounds. The National Fraud Authority estimates that £1bn per year is lost in mortgage -related frauds in total, which is seen as a conservative estimate.

These risks are exacerbated by the lack of a comprehensive set of data on all conveyancing firms (which, for the avoidance of doubt, would include solicitors and conveyancers across the UK) which is in a readily accessible format. Currently, lenders vet the suitability of their panel firms against a variety of disparate, incomplete and potentially inaccurate sets of information. One top 5 lender pointed out to us that it is almost impossible to track individual fraudsters who move from firm to firm, especially where they are no longer registered or no longer hold a valid practicing certificate.

Paragon Mortgages Ltd and other lenders are in varying stages of reviewing their approach to vetting firms on their conveyancing panels, to ensure their ongoing exposure to unsuitable firms is reduced. There is also regulatory impetus on lenders to ensure that they have satisfactory oversight of their third party panels, including a due-diligence process.

The CLC has initiated discussions with lenders and their representative bodies to see whether and how the risks that lenders wish to mitigate could be addressed through the regulatory framework rather than via ad hoc arrangements that can differ from lender to lender. We expect that that the CLC have been in touch with lenders such as Paragon Mortgages Ltd since 2008 which is when lenders started being more restrictive.

With banks and solicitors working so closely together it is surprising that there has not been much call for the introduction of a bit of transparency regarding not just the figures for the Paragon Mortgages Ltd conveyancing panel but for all bank panels

You should supply details of the date of removal, information on the reason for removal, date of appeal and any reason given for reinstatement. This should not negatively affect your application but gives the Law Society viability as to what has gone on.

You need to contact Paragon Mortgages Ltd to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook has an express section for lenders to reveal who to contact to obtain standard documents. Paragon Mortgages Ltd in their Part 2’s state: You will need to quote your Paragon Mortgages Ltd conveyancing panel number.