Coutts & Co Conveyancing Panel Information

During 2013, 77 sections of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook P2 were changed by Coutts & Co. Some changes are more important than others but as a firm on the Coutts & Co conveyancing panel you are of course obliged to comply with individual lender requirements, as set out in Part II of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. Locktons have recently pointed out in an article that non-compliance with Part 2 requirements account for a number of high value claims, and it is therefore important to be aware of any particularly onerous terms that an individual lender may impose.

Remember: CML requirements are not guidelines; they are the lender client’s instructions.

When a solicitor is acting for both Coutts & Co and borrower there is potential for conflicts to arise. You owe duties to both clients. All information received by you from your client is confidential and cannot be disclosed without the client’s consent. In the situation you find yourself in if the purchaser will not consent to the information being passed on to the lender the solicitor must cease to act for the Coutts & Co and it may well be prudent you to cease to act for the purchaser as well. You can not tell the Coutts & Co the reason for termination of the retainer over and above the fact that a conflict has arisen. The fact that you can no longer act should alert even the most somnambulistic of lenders that something is wrong with the borrower and/or purchase. The fact that you have disinstructed yourself should not affect your Coutts & Co conveyancing panel status.

You will be aware of the trend in recent years for lenders such as Coutts & Co to take a much more pro-active approach in relation to the management and make up of their conveyancer panels. The knock on effect of this is that it is more likely that there will be a higher number of cases where a conveyancer is not on the Coutts & Co panel. The situation that you find yourself in is where your client’s purchaser has his/her own lawyer and Coutts & Co have appointed a separate lawyer to act on their behalf where the new CML Part 3 requirements apply. Section 11.1 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Part 3 requires Coutts & Co’s panel solicitor to ‘ ...transfer the mortgage advance directly to the Seller’s conveyancer. The Seller’s conveyancer must be required to hold the mortgage advance on the terms of the required undertaking. The example borrower’s conveyancer’s undertaking letter includes a specific example of the seller’s undertaking’. You should expect to be advised to received the mortgage advance directly from the conveyancing solicitors for Coutts & Co. You will no doubt be required to undertake directly to Coutts & Co’s solicitors to discharge any charges secured on the property and to send directly to them the executed transfer and any other documents required to enable us to effect registration. Please remember to carefully consider undertakings in accordance with your firm’s protocol and record them in your undertakings logg. Please remember that as well as this breach of this undertaking having regulatory and compliance implications it’s breach could also result in your firm being removed off the Coutts & Co conveyancing panel.

With banks and conveyancers working so closely with one another it is surprising that there has not been much call for the introduction of a bit of transparency regarding not just the figures for the Coutts & Co conveyancing panel but for all lender panel listings

In this situation please clarify on the form what steps you have taken to discover the reasons behind cancellation of your Coutts & Co panel status. In particular please provide details if you have received communications from the lender. E.G. before cessation of your panel membership did you receive any letters or calls from the lender advising you as to their reasons?

You would be advised to contact Coutts & Co to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook has a specific inquiry for lenders to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Coutts & Co in their Part 2’s state: Don’t forget to disclose your Coutts & Co solicitors panel reference.