Lloyds Conveyancing Panel Information

Although not necessarily published, lenders have varying criteria . We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the Lloyds conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

Number of partners per branch of the firm

Full career history for each solicitor including admission date to the relevant Law Society

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

Number of lender conveyancing panels the firm is currently on

List of fee-earners who are foreign qualified

Firm name, address and contact details including all branches (including evidence of existence through risk-based physical visits and Google Streetview checks)

top-up split and history of any refusals

Full disciplinary history for each conveyancing solicitor

List of all those who can sign off the Certificate Of Title

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

The CLC has initiated discussions with lenders and their representative bodies to see whether and how the risks that lenders wish to mitigate could be addressed through the regulatory framework rather than via ad hoc arrangements that can differ from lender to lender. We expect that that the CLC have been in touch with lenders such as Lloyds as well as the CML.

The answer to this question really depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the Lloyds 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 compliance officer 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 Lloyds conveyancing panel.

In the same way that there is a unique Lloyds 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.

The best placed professionals to answer this question are your insurance brokers. 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 Lloyds solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You need to contact Lloyds to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook has an explicit section for lenders to cite who to contact to obtain standard documents. Lloyds in their Part 2’s state: It helps to quote your Lloyds conveyancing panel number.