Mortgage Agency Services Conveyancing Panel Information

The Council of Mortgage Lenders, along with Mortgage Agency Services and other lenders developed a standard set of requirements where a solicitor is acting for a lender such as Mortgage Agency Services alone in a residential conveyancing transaction. These requirements are contained at Part III of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook and are to be read together with Sections One and Two. The CML have published an example requirements letter to the borrower’s lawyer for use by the lender's conveyancer, and sets out to the borrower's conveyancer, the documentary and information requirements of the lender's panel solicitor.

The Law Society of Scotland has advised that solicitors should check their lender panel status prior to accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Mortgage Agency Services 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

We only know of two or three banks that operate a separate approved solicitors panel where the mortgage advance is over a certain threshold. You should nevertheless check directly with Mortgage Agency Services. 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 Mortgage Agency Services

You have a number of obligations in this regard which you need to follow if you wish to comply with your lender client’s instructions as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. First, 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 Mortgage Agency Services 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 Mortgage Agency Services’s mortgage offer are correct. If they are not, please let Mortgage Agency Services know as soon as possible as it will be necessary for Mortgage Agency Services to check with the valuer whether the valuation needs to be revised. Mortgage Agency Services conveyancing panel solicitors are not expected to assume the role of valuer. Mortgage Agency Services are simply trying to ensure that the valuer has valued the property based on correct information. (c) Mortgage Agency Services 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. Mortgage Agency Services recommend that, if we send a copy of a valuation report that Mortgage Agency Services 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 survey or structural survey. If you do not receive a copy of the valuation you can always ask for a copy of one from Mortgage Agency Services 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 Mortgage Agency Services 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 Mortgage Agency Services solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You should contact Mortgage Agency Services to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook includes an express question for lenders to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Mortgage Agency Services in their Part 2’s state: You will need to quote the firm’s Mortgage Agency Services solicitors panel reference.