Sainsbury's Bank Conveyancing Panel Information

Lexsure only know of a couple of banks that operate a separate approved solicitors panel where the mortgage advance is over a certain amount. You should nevertheless check directly with Sainsbury's 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 Sainsbury's Bank

We can't comment specifically on Sainsbury's Bank. 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 arrears with the lender he 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.

Sainsbury's Bank approved solicitors are bound by the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook instructions relating to Transfer of Equity. These are set out in Section 16.3. First, your firm must approve the form of Transfer of Equity (which should be in the Land Registry's standard form) and, if Sainsbury's Bank require, the deed of covenant on their behalf. You will need to check Sainsbury's Bank CML Part 2 conditions to see if Sainsbury's Bank have standard forms of transfer and deed of covenant. Please note that this requirement can change from one transaction to another so do check! Second,When drafting or approving a transfer, you should bear in mind that: although the transfer should state that it is subject to the mortgage (identified by date and parties), it need give no details of the terms of the mortgage; the transfer need not state the amount of the mortgage debt. If it does, the figure should include both principal and interest at the date of completion, which you must check ; there should be no statement that all interest has been paid to date. Further obligations are set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook which have to be followed by all firms on the Sainsbury's Bank conveyancing panel

In this situation please explain on the application what action you have taken to discover the reasons behind cancellation of your Sainsbury's Bank panel status. In particular please provide details if you have received communications from the lender. E.G. before cessation of your panel membership did you receive any letters or calls from the lender putting you on notice?

You should get in touch with Sainsbury's Bank to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook includes an express question for lenders to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Sainsbury's Bank in their Part 2’s state: Please remember to disclose the firm’s Sainsbury's Bank solicitors panel reference.