National Westminster Bank Conveyancing Panel Information

The Council of Mortgage Lenders, along with National Westminster Bank and other stakeholders developed a standard set of instructions where a conveyancer is representing a lender such as National Westminster Bank alone in a residential conveyancing matter. These obligations are contained at Part III of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook and are to be followed together with Part I and II. The CML have published an example requirements letter to the borrower’s conveyancing solicitor 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.

We only know of two or three lenders that operate a separate conveyancing panel where the mortgage advance is over a certain threshold. You should nevertheless check directly with National Westminster Bank. 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 National Westminster Bank

The majority of 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 National Westminster Bank as at todays date. If you're about to receive instructions from a client on a buy to let purchase with a mortgage from National Westminster Bank we suggest that you call National Westminster Bank to check the position.

When a solicitor is acting for both National Westminster Bank and borrower there is potential for conflicts to arise. You owe duties to both clients. All information received by you from your client is confidential and cannot be disclosed without the client’s consent. In the situation you find yourself in if the purchaser will not consent to the information being passed on to the lender the solicitor must cease to act for the National Westminster Bank and it may well be prudent you to cease to act for the purchaser as well. You can not tell the National Westminster Bank the reason for termination of the retainer over and above the fact that a conflict has arisen. The fact that you can no longer act should alert even the most somnambulistic of lenders that something is wrong with the borrower and/or purchase. The fact that you have disinstructed yourself should not affect your National Westminster Bank conveyancing panel status.

The Law Society’s CQS membership gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a prerequisite for firms wishing to remain on their approved list of conveyancing solicitors. Some mortgage companies now use the scheme as the starting point for Panel acceptance such as HSBC.

You would be advised to communicate with National Westminster Bank to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook contains a specific question for banks to enumerate who to contact to obtain standard documents. National Westminster Bank in their Part 2’s state: Please remember to disclose your National Westminster Bank solicitors panel number.