Barclays plc Conveyancing Panel Information

The Law Society of Scotland has advised that solicitors should check their lender panel status before accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Barclays plc conveyancing panel. The suggestion 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 mumsnet.com

Lexsure only know of a couple of banks that operate a separate conveyancing panel where the mortgage advance is over a certain amount. You should nevertheless check directly with Barclays plc. 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 Barclays plc

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

• Average mortgage advance
• Buy to Let transactions
• Disclosure/Notification to Lender analysis indicating frequency and nature of disclosures - to include benchmarking analysis against aggregate data
• Average time frame to send deeds to the lender (calculated from completion date or title registration)
• Average time frame to register charges at the Land Registry

In the same way that there is a unique Barclays plc conveyancing panel most building societies, operate a conveyancing panel for solicitors and other conveyancers that the lender will instruct. Terms and Conditions and criteria for inclusion on a building society conveyancing panel vary from lender-to-lender. Having CQS accreditation may be a requirement. Institutional lenders, such as a building society, is a client and is entitled to instruct the solicitor or conveyancer of its choosing (who, in turn, is free to accept or refuse instructions). Therefore, if lender and borrower cannot agree which solicitor or conveyancer should represent them jointly, they would usually proceed on a separate representation basis. The BSA have not published the equivalent of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Part 3s.

CQS membership is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a prerequisite for firms wishing to join their panels. A number of Lenders now use the scheme as the starting point for Panel membership such as HSBC.

You would be advised to contact Barclays plc to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook contains an express question for lenders to reveal who to contact to obtain standard documents. Barclays plc in their Part 2’s state: You will need to disclose your Barclays plc conveyancing panel reference.