Bluestone Mortgages Conveyancing Panel Information

This not something that the CML would traditionally get involved with however they do provided a number of useful legal related conferences which are attended by firms on the Bluestone Mortgages conveyancing panel. It is our intention to run specific lender focused seminars in the near future including a webinar on Bluestone Mortgages’s Part 2 requirements. Solicitors on the Bluestone Mortgages conveyancing panel are welcome. Further details will be made available as part of the LENDERmonitor Alerts.

In operating open conveyancing panels, lenders such as Bluestone Mortgages 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.

Bluestone Mortgages 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.

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

• The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (broken down into sale/purchase and remortgage)
• Evidence of undertaking logs
• Number of conveyancing cases by lender
• Current and historic missed priority dates
• Disclosure/Notification to Lender analysis indicating frequency and nature of disclosures - to include benchmarking analysis against aggregate data

The concern here is if you are expect to enter into ‘more onerous’ conditions that than the Handbook obligations. You have to try and take an objective view as to whether the Terms relating to the Bluestone Mortgages conveyancing appointment (or other terms for other lenders) are ‘more onerous’ than the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Conditions. Depending on the Terms you may need to provide details on your renewal form. If you are in any doubt please call your broker to discuss before completing the answer.

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 Bluestone Mortgages solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You need to get in touch with Bluestone Mortgages to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook includes a specific section for lenders to enumerate who to contact to obtain standard documents. Bluestone Mortgages in their Part 2’s state: It helps to quote the firm’s Bluestone Mortgages conveyancing panel number.