Coutts & Co Conveyancing Panel Information

The Council of Mortgage Lenders, together with Coutts & Co and other stakeholders created a standard set of requirements where a conveyancer is acting for a lender such as Coutts & Co alone in a residential conveyancing transaction. These requirements are contained at Part III of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook and are to be followed together with Sections One and Two. 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 solicitor.

The requirements to join the Coutts & Co conveyancing panel is likely to be fairly detailed and is unlikely to include signing up to LENDERmonitor alerts.

We only know of two or three lenders that operate a distinct conveyancing panel where the mortgage advance is over a certain amount. You should nevertheless check directly with Coutts & Co. 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 Coutts & Co

Coutts & Co approved solicitors are bound by the Part II instructions relating to Transfer of Equity. These are set out in Section 16.3. First, your firm must approve the form of Transfer of Equity (which should be in the Land Registry's standard form) and, if Coutts & Co require, the deed of covenant on their behalf. You will need to check Coutts & Co CML Part 2 conditions to see if Coutts & Co have standard forms of transfer and deed of covenant. Please note that this requirement can change from one transaction to another so do check! Second,When drafting or approving a transfer, you should bear in mind that: although the transfer should state that it is subject to the mortgage (identified by date and parties), it need give no details of the terms of the mortgage; the transfer need not state the amount of the mortgage debt. If it does, the figure should include both principal and interest at the date of completion, which you must check ; there should be no statement that all interest has been paid to date. Further obligations are set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook which have to be followed by all firms on the Coutts & Co conveyancing panel

In this situation please clarify on the form what action you have taken to find out 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 revocation of your panel membership did you receive any letters or calls from the lender putting you on notice?

You would be advised to communicate with Coutts & Co to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook contains an individual inquiry for banks to enumerate who to contact to obtain standard documents. Coutts & Co in their Part 2’s state: Please remember to quote your Coutts & Co conveyancing panel number.