Atom Bank Conveyancing Panel Information

We only know of two or three lenders that operate a distinct conveyancing panel where the mortgage advance is over a certain level. You should nevertheless check directly with Atom Bank. At one stage HSBC would only allow Sole practitioners to act for them where the mortgage was below £150,000. We are not sure if HSBC still operate such a condition. In your case it is best to check with Atom Bank

You will be aware of the trend in recent years for lenders such as Atom Bank to take a much more pro-active approach in relation to the management and make up of their conveyancer panels. The knock on effect of this is that it is more likely that there will be a higher number of cases where a conveyancer is not on the Atom Bank panel. The situation that you find yourself in is where your client’s purchaser has his/her own lawyer and Atom Bank have appointed a separate lawyer to act on their behalf where the new CML Part 3 requirements apply. Section 11.1 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Part 3 requires Atom Bank’s panel solicitor to ‘ ...transfer the mortgage advance directly to the Seller’s conveyancer. The Seller’s conveyancer must be required to hold the mortgage advance on the terms of the required undertaking. The example borrower’s conveyancer’s undertaking letter includes a specific example of the seller’s undertaking’. You should expect to be advised to received the mortgage advance directly from the conveyancing solicitors for Atom Bank. You will no doubt be required to undertake directly to Atom Bank’s solicitors to discharge any charges secured on the property and to send directly to them the executed transfer and any other documents required to enable us to effect registration. Please remember to carefully consider undertakings in accordance with your firm’s protocol and record them in your undertakings logg. Please remember that as well as this breach of this undertaking having regulatory and compliance implications it’s breach could also result in your firm being removed off the Atom Bank conveyancing panel.

For most lenders participation on the lender's panel of conveyancers is at the absolute discretion of the the lender. Many lenders reserve the right to accept or reject any application without giving any reason. You should check your original application to join the Atom Bank conveyancing panel to see if you are entitled to a reason.

There are various requirements you need to follow if you wish to comply with your lender client’s instructions as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. (a) You must take reasonable steps to verify that there are no discrepancies between the description of the property as valued and the title and other documents which a reasonably competent conveyancer should obtain, and, if there are, you must tell Atom Bank immediately. Second, You should take reasonable steps to verify that the assumptions stated by the valuer about the title (for example, its tenure, easements, boundaries and restrictions on its use) in the valuation and as stated in Atom Bank’s mortgage offer are correct. If they are not, please let Atom Bank know as soon as possible as it will be necessary for Atom Bank to check with the valuer whether the valuation needs to be revised. Atom Bank conveyancing panel solicitors are not expected to assume the role of valuer. Atom Bank are simply trying to ensure that the valuer has valued the property based on correct information. (III) Atom Bank recommend that you should advise the borrower that there may be defects in the property which are not revealed by the inspection carried out by their valuer and there may be omissions or inaccuracies in the report which do not matter to them as a lender but which would matter to the borrower. Atom Bank recommend that, if we send a copy of a valuation report that Atom Bank have obtained, you should also advise the borrower that the borrower should not rely on the report in deciding whether to proceed with the purchase and that he obtains his own more detailed report on the condition and value of the property, based on a fuller inspection such as a homebuyers survey or structural survey. If you do not receive a copy of the valuation you can always ask for a copy of one from Atom Bank or the borrower. You still need to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Requirement relating to valuation reports even if you don't receive one directly. Failure to comply not only runs the risk of facing a claim by the lender but also being removed from the Atom Bank conveyancing panel

The Law Society’s CQS membership gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a prerequisite for firms wishing to remain on their panels. Some mortgage companies now use CQS as the starting point for Panel approval as is the case with HSBC.

You should contact Atom Bank to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook incorporates an explicit section for banks to cite who to contact to obtain standard documents. Atom Bank in their Part 2’s state: It helps to quote the firm’s Atom Bank conveyancing panel reference.