Rely Mortgages Conveyancing Panel Information

As is the case with the Law Society the Council of Licensed Conveyancers has begun discussions with banks and their representative bodies to see whether and how the risks that lenders wish to mitigate could be addressed through the regulatory framework rather than via ad hoc arrangements that can differ from lender to lender. It is likely that that the CLC have been in touch with lenders such as Rely Mortgages since 2008 which is when lenders started being more restrictive.

We can't comment specifically on Rely Mortgages. Many major lenders are now introducing ‘file auditing’ as standard practice in relation to completed matters. This raises questions of confidentiality in relation to the borrower and the purpose to which the results of such audits will be put. The starting point is to remember that the file does not belong to your firm, it belongs to the ‘client’. But, of course, we will normally have two clients – the buyer and the lender - and you will owe a duty of confidentiality to each. So basically, you have to separate the file and just send the lender the parts solely relating to themselves. But, of course, as this will basically be correspondence with the lender, mortgage instructions etc.

Check with your COLP but a firm should not send the complete conveyancing file without the buyer client’s express consent – and if she is in dispute with the lender she is hardly likely to agree. However, if the lender can establish a prima facie case of fraud, then you may be under an obligation to disclose the whole file.

The emerging convention is that lenders are including an authority to disclose in loan application forms to counter this problem. Mortgage Express v Sawali, [2010] EWHC 3054 (Ch) indicates that such provisions are valid. Please click here for more information about that case.

There are many reports available, five of which are as follows:

• Average time frame to send deeds to the lender (calculated from completion date or title registration)
• Number of conveyancing cases by lender
• The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (broken down into sale/purchase and remortgage)
• Disclosure/Notification to Lender analysis indicating frequency and nature of disclosures - to include benchmarking analysis against aggregate data
• Average mortgage advance

Given that your firm in is on the Rely Mortgages conveyancing panel and you are representing them in relation to a leasehold property, you must report to them if it becomes apparent that the landlord is either absent or insolvent. If Rely Mortgages are to lend, they may require indemnity insurance. In any event,you will need to check Rely Mortgages’s specific requirements. Notwithstanding whether Rely Mortgages will lend in such circumstances you still need to advise the borrower (unless you are acting for Rely Mortgages alone) as to the risks of buying a property with an insolvent or absentee landlord.

It would be advisable to provide details of the date of removal, information on the reason for removal, date of appeal and any reason given for reinstatement. This should not adversely impact your firm’s application but gives the CQS team viability as to what has happened.

You should communicate with Rely Mortgages to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook incorporates an explicit section for banks to reveal who to contact to obtain standard documents. Rely Mortgages in their Part 2’s state: Don’t forget to quote the firm’s Rely Mortgages conveyancing panel number.