Paragon Mortgages Ltd Conveyancing Panel Information

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

• Current and historic missed priority dates
• Disclosure/Notification to Lender analysis indicating frequency and nature of disclosures - to include benchmarking analysis against aggregate data
• Average time frame to register charges at the Land Registry
• Average mortgage advance
• Buy to Let transactions

In order to be on the Paragon Mortgages Ltd conveyancing panel solicitors have to complete an application form and agree Terms and Conditions. A sample of 5 conditions that we see amongst many lenders Terms (but not necessarily Paragon Mortgages Ltd) are as follows:

• To quote on all communications with us relating to deeds/registration issues, whether by telephone or in writing, the panel number that we provide for each practising address and the mortgage account or application number for the mortgage concerned.
• That any deeds you borrow from us in connection with the personal mortgage of a partner or director at your firm must be requested by a partner or director other than the partner or director concerned and the transaction must be handled by that other partner or director. If you are a sole practitioner and require the loan of deeds in connection with your own mortgage, you must nominate a different firm on our panel to request the deeds and handle the transaction.
• To carry out our instructions with reasonable care and skill, ensuring that all employees carrying out mortgage work on our behalf are qualified and competent to do so
• Without prejudice to your obligation to comply in full with the Safeguards provisions in the CML Lenders’ Handbook, to report to us as soon as possible any suspicion that you have about the genuineness of any transaction in any respect.
• If you are a sole practitioner, to arrange for appropriate locum cover from our panel where necessary. Your locum must be a member of the Conveyancing panel.

You will be aware of the trend in recent years for lenders such as Paragon Mortgages Ltd to take a much more pro-active approach in relation to the management and make up of their conveyancer panels. The knock on effect of this is that it is more likely that there will be a higher number of cases where a conveyancer is not on the Paragon Mortgages Ltd panel. The situation that you find yourself in is where your client’s purchaser has his/her own lawyer and Paragon Mortgages Ltd have appointed a separate lawyer to act on their behalf where the new CML Part 3 requirements apply. Section 11.1 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Part 3 requires Paragon Mortgages Ltd’s panel solicitor to ‘ ...transfer the mortgage advance directly to the Seller’s conveyancer. The Seller’s conveyancer must be required to hold the mortgage advance on the terms of the required undertaking. The example borrower’s conveyancer’s undertaking letter includes a specific example of the seller’s undertaking’. You should expect to be advised to received the mortgage advance directly from the conveyancing solicitors for Paragon Mortgages Ltd. You will no doubt be required to undertake directly to Paragon Mortgages Ltd’s solicitors to discharge any charges secured on the property and to send directly to them the executed transfer and any other documents required to enable us to effect registration. Please remember to carefully consider undertakings in accordance with your firm’s protocol and record them in your undertakings logg. Please remember that as well as this breach of this undertaking having regulatory and compliance implications it’s breach could also result in your firm being removed off the Paragon Mortgages Ltd conveyancing panel.

For most lenders participation on the lender's panel of conveyancers is at the absolute discretion of the the lender. Many lenders reserve the right to accept or reject any application without giving any reason. You should check your original application to join the Paragon Mortgages Ltd conveyancing panel to see if you are entitled to a reason.

We would recommend that you 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 negatively affect your application but gives the CQS team viability as to what has gone on.

You should contact Paragon Mortgages Ltd to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook contains an individual question for lenders to reveal who to contact to obtain standard documents. Paragon Mortgages Ltd in their Part 2’s state: You will need to quote the firm’s Paragon Mortgages Ltd conveyancing panel reference.