The Mortgage Lender Conveyancing Panel Information

Paragraph 16.2.1 of Part 1 of the Handbook applicable to a solicitor on the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel reads ‘Our mortgage secures further advances. Consequently, when a further advance is required for alterations or improvements to the property we will not normally instruct a member of our conveyancing panel but if you are instructed the appropriate provisions of this Handbook will apply’.

The requirements to join the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel is likely to be fairly detailed and is unlikely to include signing up to LENDERmonitor alerts.

Many estate agents are feeling the pain if their clients start out on the buying process using a conveyancer who is not on the panel with the purchaser’s chosen lender. Many conveyancing firms are only discovering when they begin working on a case that they are no longer able to work with that lender. Given the inevitable resultant delays in the transaction the chances of an abortive deal increases dramatically. in the circumstances there is understandable anguish on the part of the estate agent as a result of the lost time should the client have to change lawyers.

The Council of Licensed Conveyancers has entered dialogue with lenders 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. We expect that that the CLC have been in touch with lenders such as The Mortgage Lender as well as the BSA.

We would recommend that you 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 Law Society viability as to what has occured.

You would be advised to get in touch with The Mortgage Lender to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook has a specific question for banks to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. The Mortgage Lender in their Part 2’s state: You will need to disclose your The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel number.