Bank of Ireland Conveyancing Panel Information

The Law Society of Scotland has suggested that solicitors should check their panel status with lenders before accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel. The recommendation arises from the practice of a number of mortgage lenders who remove solicitors from their panels without prior notice as part of their panel management system, which can lead to some solicitors discovering this only once instructed. This is sensible advice as a client finding out midway through a transaction that their lawyer is not on the approved lender panel is very frustrating and can lead to complaints. Many online consumer forums contain posts where someone is complaining about finding that their lawyer is not on a lender conveyancing panel. Such forums include moneysavingexpert.com

The CML Part II requirements of Bank of Ireland are silent on this. Most mortgage companies address the question of file retention via their Terms and Conditions where they generally provide that for evidential purposes, the firm must keep the file for a minimum six years from the date of the mortgage. Data imagining is normally suitable compliance with this requirement. Many lenders point out in that it is the practice of some fraudsters to demand the conveyancing file on completion in order to destroy evidence that may later be used against them. It is therefore important to retain these documents to protect Bank of Ireland’s interest. To be absolutely sure of Bank of Ireland requirements in this regard please check the Terms and Conditions of Bank of Ireland’s conveyancing panel membership.

You need to be careful here as what you are proposing may not be acceptable to the lender. It is possible that you (as a non-panel firm) or the mortgage applicant are not at liberty instruct a panel firm of your choice. An increasing amount of lenders are making it clear to their panel firms that where a non-panel member firm is instructed by one of their mortgage applicants, the lender must appoint a panel firm to carry out its instructions and to liaise with the borrower's conveyancer. You also need to make the costs implications and potential for delay very clear to your client.

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 Bank of Ireland conveyancing panel to see if you are entitled to a reason.

In this situation please explain on the application what action you have taken to find out the reasons behind cancellation of your Bank of Ireland panel membership. In particular please provide details if you have received communications from the lender. E.G. before termination of your panel membership did you receive any letters or calls from the lender putting you on notice?

You need to get in touch with Bank of Ireland to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook has an individual question for banks to cite who to contact to obtain standard documents. Bank of Ireland in their Part 2’s state: Please remember to quote the firm’s Bank of Ireland solicitors panel number.