Halifax Loans Conveyancing Panel Information

In order to be on the Halifax 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 Halifax Loans) are as follows:

• 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.
• To forward the title deeds and documents to another solicitor/conveyancer within 24 hours of an instruction from us requiring you to do so. On forwarding the deeds as instructed you will confirm to us that you have done so. Upon receipt of your confirmation, we will release you from all undertakings relating to your holding the title deeds.
• 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.
• To keep us informed of the reasons for any delay in your being able to send the title deeds and documents we require to us within 3 months of completion or evidence of proof of registration within that period. (We will send reminders if the deeds have not been received but will not acknowledge receipt of deeds.)

You will be aware of the trend in recent years for lenders such as Halifax Loans 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 Halifax Loans panel. The situation that you find yourself in is where your client’s purchaser has his/her own lawyer and Halifax Loans 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 Halifax Loans’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 Halifax Loans. You will no doubt be required to undertake directly to Halifax Loans’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 Halifax Loans conveyancing panel.

There are various requirements are to followed if you wish to comply with your lender client’s instructions as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. (a) You must take reasonable steps to verify that there are no discrepancies between the description of the property as valued and the title and other documents which a reasonably competent conveyancer should obtain, and, if there are, you must tell Halifax Loans immediately. (II) You should take reasonable steps to verify that the assumptions stated by the valuer about the title (for example, its tenure, easements, boundaries and restrictions on its use) in the valuation and as stated in Halifax Loans’s mortgage offer are correct. If they are not, please let Halifax Loans know as soon as possible as it will be necessary for Halifax Loans to check with the valuer whether the valuation needs to be revised. Halifax Loans conveyancing panel solicitors are not expected to assume the role of valuer. Halifax Loans are simply trying to ensure that the valuer has valued the property based on correct information. (c) Halifax Loans recommend that you should advise the borrower that there may be defects in the property which are not revealed by the inspection carried out by their valuer and there may be omissions or inaccuracies in the report which do not matter to them as a lender but which would matter to the borrower. Halifax Loans recommend that, if we send a copy of a valuation report that Halifax Loans have obtained, you should also advise the borrower that the borrower should not rely on the report in deciding whether to proceed with the purchase and that he obtains his own more detailed report on the condition and value of the property, based on a fuller inspection such as a homebuyers report or comprehensive survey. If you do not receive a copy of the valuation you can always ask for a copy of one from Halifax Loans or the borrower. You still need to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Requirement relating to valuation reports even if you don't receive one directly. Failure to comply not only runs the risk of facing a claim by the lender but also being removed from the Halifax Loans conveyancing panel

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 Halifax Loans solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You should contact Halifax Loans to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook incorporates an explicit question for banks to enumerate who to contact to obtain standard documents. Halifax Loans in their Part 2’s state: It is likely that you will need to quote your Halifax Loans conveyancing panel reference.