Foundation Home loans Conveyancing Panel Information

The Council of Mortgage Lender requirements of Foundation Home loans are silent on this. Most lenders address the question of file retention via their Terms of panel appointment where they generally provide that for evidential purposes, the firm must keep the file for at least of 6 years from the date of the mortgage. Data imagining is normally suitable compliance with this requirement. Many lenders point out in that it is the practice of some fraudsters to demand the conveyancing file on completion in order to destroy evidence that may later be used against them. It is therefore important to retain these documents to protect Foundation Home loans’s interest. To be absolutely sure of Foundation Home loans requirements in this regard please check the Terms and Conditions of Foundation Home loans’s conveyancing panel appointment.

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 Foundation Home loans conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

List of all Licensed Conveyancers within firm

Full complaints history for each conveyancing solicitor

Whether the firm has ever knowingly accepted instructions on transactions involving Sale and Rent Back, Back to Back, Exchange and Delayed Completion and Lease Option, Below Market Value.

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

Full complaints history for each licensed conveyancer

purchase and remortgage)

Automated alerting to inform lenders when there is a fundamental change to the firm (e.g. change of ownership)

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

PII Cover details, including, if relevant, whether the firm is or has been in the assigned risks pool and structure of cover – basic

Number of lender conveyancing panels the firm is currently on

In order to be on the Foundation Home loans conveyancing panel solicitors have to complete an application form and agree Terms and Conditions. A sample of 5 conditions that we see amongst many lenders Terms (but not necessarily Foundation Home loans) are as follows:

• If you are a sole practitioner, to arrange for appropriate locum cover from our panel where necessary. Your locum must be a member of the Conveyancing panel.
• That any deeds you borrow from us in connection with the personal mortgage of a partner or director at your firm must be requested by a partner or director other than the partner or director concerned and the transaction must be handled by that other partner or director. If you are a sole practitioner and require the loan of deeds in connection with your own mortgage, you must nominate a different firm on our panel to request the deeds and handle the transaction.
• To notify us in writing of any change in your details as held on our records for example, change of address, telephone number, document exchange number email address. Notification must be given to us at least 10 days before the change will be effective.
• Without prejudice to your obligation to comply in full with the Safeguards provisions in the CML Lenders’ Handbook, to report to us as soon as possible any suspicion that you have about the genuineness of any transaction in any respect.
• You have the consent of all borrowers to apply for the deeds, before making any request for deeds. We will accept your request for deeds on the understanding that you have obtained such consent. If this is not the case then you should advise our Deeds Services Department in writing when you make your request

During 2013, 0 sections of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook P2 were changed by Foundation Home loans. Some changes are more important than others but as a firm on the Foundation Home loans 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.

The Law Society’s CQS accreditation gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a prerequisite for firms wishing to remain on their approved list of firms. A number of mortgage companies now use the scheme as the starting point for Panel membership such as Astra Mortgages.

You should communicate with Foundation Home loans to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook has an individual inquiry for lenders to cite who to contact to obtain standard documents. Foundation Home loans in their Part 2’s state: Don’t forget to quote your Foundation Home loans solicitors panel reference.