Intelligent Finance Conveyancing Panel Information

Intelligent Finance’s answer to this question can be found at section 6.4.4 of their CML Part 2 requirements

The Law Society of Scotland has suggested that solicitors should check their lender panel status before accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Intelligent Finance conveyancing panel. The suggestion arises from the practice of a number of mortgage lenders who remove solicitors from their panels without prior notice as part of their panel management system, which can lead to some solicitors discovering this only once instructed. This is sensible advice as a client finding out midway through a transaction that their lawyer is not on the approved lender panel is very frustrating and can lead to complaints. Many online consumer forums contain posts where someone is complaining about finding that their lawyer is not on a lender conveyancing panel. Such forums include mumsnet.com

Most lenders do not operate a specific buy to let conveyancing panel but we are hearing about a few that do. We do not know what the position is with Intelligent Finance as at todays date. If you're about to receive instructions from a client on a buy to let purchase with a mortgage from Intelligent Finance we suggest that you call Intelligent Finance to check the position.

The Law Society’s CQS accreditation is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a prerequisite for firms wishing to join their panels. A number of Lenders now use CQS as the starting point for Panel acceptance such as HSBC.

You should contact Intelligent Finance to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook has an express section for lenders to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Intelligent Finance in their Part 2’s state: It is likely that you will need to disclose your Intelligent Finance conveyancing panel number.