GE Money Conveyancing Panel Information

Many estate agents are suffering if their clients start out on the buying process using a solicitor who is not on the panel with the purchaser’s chosen lender. Many conveyancing firms are only discovering when they begin working on a case that they are no longer able to work with that lender. Given the inevitable resultant delays in the transaction the chances of an abortive deal increases dramatically. in the circumstances there is understandable anguish on the part of the estate agent as a result of the lost time should the client have to change lawyers.

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

Areas of Law covered by the firm

List of all those staff who work within the conveyancing team

Structure of firm and, where applicable, its group

Summary of annual accounts

Whether any lender has ever made a claim against the firm’s PII cover

The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (broken down into sale

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

and Conveyancing Quality Scheme

Whether the firm has ever applied for accreditation and the outcome of the application

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.

What you should do largely depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the GE Money 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 GE Money conveyancing panel.

It would be advisable to supply details of the date of removal, information on the reason for removal, date of appeal and any reason given for reinstatement. This should not negatively affect your application but gives the Law Society a complete picture of what has gone on.

You need to communicate with GE Money to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook contains an explicit section for lenders to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. GE Money in their Part 2’s state: Don’t forget to quote your GE Money solicitors panel number.