Aldermore Bank Conveyancing Panel Information

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (or the BSA) do not involve themselves in training however they do provided a number of general legal related conferences which are attended by firms on the Aldermore Bank conveyancing panel. We do intend to run specific lender focused seminars in the near future including a webinar on Aldermore Bank’s Part 2 obligations. Solicitors on the Aldermore Bank conveyancing panel will be invited. Further details will be made available as part of the LENDERmonitor P2 change Notifications.

Criteria differ from lender to lender. We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the Aldermore Bank conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

PII Cover details, including, if relevant, whether the firm is or has been in the assigned risks pool and structure of cover – basic

Whether the firm has ever accepted instructions in respect of property clubs and investment schemes

SRA or equivalent regulator registration number where applicable

Number of lender conveyancing panels the firm is currently on

conveyancer client account(s) details

Whether the firm has ever applied for accreditation and the outcome of the application

Whether any lender has ever made a claim against the firm’s PII cover

The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (broken down into sale

House price discrepancies (declared to lender vs. registered at Land Registry)

Full disciplinary history for each licensed conveyancer

There are many reports available, five of which are as follows:

• Evidence of undertaking logs
• Average time frame to send deeds to the lender (calculated from completion date or title registration)
• Number of conveyancing cases by lender
• Buy to Let transactions
• Analysis as to the nature of clients (e.g.existing/new/seen in person)

The answer to this question really depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the Aldermore Bank conveyancing panel. The top 3 reasons are as follows:

1. lack of transactions
2. the lawyer is a sole practitioner
3. as part of the HSBC panel reduction.

In these three circumstances it is unlikely that you would expected to take any action. Disclosure and other compliance considerations are more likely to be relevant if the reason for removal is due to breaches of lender requirements or allegations of fraud or negligence. Whether the reasoning should trigger a disclosable 'material' breach will depend on the firm and the circumstances around possible failures to comply with the SRA Authorisation Rules, and the SRA will judge each case on its own merits. Factors such as the detriment or risk of detriment to clients, the scale of the issue and overall impact on the firm will need to be considered in deciding whether a failure is 'material'. As the COLP you will need systems to identify patterns of breaches. Even if you don't consider there to be regulatory implications the firms COFA should give some thought to whether she/he needs to take any action as result of being removed from the Aldermore Bank conveyancing panel.

Your insurance brokers are your best port of call to address this question. The chances are that on the basis that you have not been removed for fraud or negligence reasons that there will be little or no impact. The main reason why a firm would be removed off of a lender panel is due to low volume of conveyancing cases although there may be a number of criteria for Aldermore Bank solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You should get in touch with Aldermore Bank to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook includes an express section for lenders to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Aldermore Bank in their Part 2’s state: Always remember to disclose the firm’s Aldermore Bank solicitors panel number.