Tandem Bank Conveyancing Panel Information

The Scottish Law Society has suggested that solicitors should check their panel status with lenders prior to accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Tandem Bank conveyancing panel. The recommendation 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

When a solicitor is acting for both Tandem 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 Tandem Bank and it may well be prudent you to cease to act for the purchaser as well. You can not tell the Tandem 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 Tandem Bank conveyancing panel status.

With mortgage companies and property lawyers working so closely together it is surprising that there has not been greater demand for the introduction of a bit of transparency regarding not just the figures for the Tandem Bank conveyancing panel but for all lender panel listings

It would be advisable to supply 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 occured.

You need to get in touch with Tandem Bank to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook contains an individual inquiry for lenders to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Tandem Bank in their Part 2’s state: Please remember to quote the firm’s Tandem Bank conveyancing panel reference.