Chelsea Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

Lexsure has not been advised of any intention on the part of the CML to develop such a register.

The CML, together with Chelsea Building Society and other stakeholders created a standard set of requirements where a solicitor is acting for a lender such as Chelsea Building Society alone in a residential conveyancing transaction. These legal instructions are contained at Part Three of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook and are to be read in conjunction with Parts 1 & 2. The CML have published an example requirements letter to the borrower’s conveyancer for use by the lender's conveyancer, and sets out to the borrower's conveyancer, the documentary and information requirements of the lender's panel conveyancer.

In operating open conveyancing panels, lenders such as Chelsea Building Society 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.

Chelsea Building Society 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:

• Average time frame to register charges at the Land Registry
• Analysis as to the nature of clients (e.g.existing/new/seen in person)
• The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (broken down into sale/purchase and remortgage)
• Disclosure/Notification to Lender analysis indicating frequency and nature of disclosures - to include benchmarking analysis against aggregate data
• Average mortgage advance

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 Chelsea Building Society solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You should get in touch with Chelsea Building Society to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook includes an individual section for lenders to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Chelsea Building Society in their Part 2’s state: Always remember to quote your Chelsea Building Society solicitors panel reference.