Kent Reliance Conveyancing Panel Information

No such training is arranged by the CML but they do organise numerous general legal related conferences which are attended by firms on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. It is our intention to run specific lender focused seminars in the near future including a webinar on Kent Reliance’s Part 2 requirements. Law firms on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel are welcome. Information about the webinar will be communicated as part of the LENDERmonitor Alerts.

Lexsure only know of a couple of banks that operate a separate conveyancing panel where the mortgage advance is over a certain threshold. You should nevertheless check directly with Kent Reliance. 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 Kent Reliance

You might expect Kent Reliance via their Part Two conditions to address this but the Handbook is silent on deadlines to send deeds. You need to look at the Terms of Kent Reliance’s Conveyancing Panel Appointment that you entered into. For many lender's these Terms have a provision along the following lines: ‘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’ It is important to keep Kent Reliance informed. Law firms can often compound their problems by not communicating with the lender when there is a delay or problem.

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

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 join their panels. A number of Lenders now use CQS as the starting point for Panel approval as is the case with Astra Mortgages.

You should contact Kent Reliance to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook includes an express section for banks to cite who to contact to obtain standard documents. Kent Reliance in their Part 2’s state: You will need to disclose your Kent Reliance solicitors panel reference.