April Mortgages Conveyancing Panel Information

What you should do largely depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the April Mortgages conveyancing panel. The top 3 reasons are as follows:

1. lack of transactions
2. the lawyer is a sole practitioner
3. as part of the HSBC panel reduction.

In these three circumstances it is unlikely that you would expected to take any action. Disclosure and other compliance considerations are more likely to be relevant if the reason for removal is due to breaches of lender requirements or allegations of fraud or negligence. Whether the reasoning should trigger a disclosable 'material' breach will depend on the firm and the circumstances around possible failures to comply with the SRA Authorisation Rules, and the SRA will judge each case on its own merits. Factors such as the detriment or risk of detriment to clients, the scale of the issue and overall impact on the firm will need to be considered in deciding whether a failure is 'material'. As the COLP you will need systems to identify patterns of breaches. Even if you don't consider there to be regulatory implications the firms COFA should give some thought to whether she/he needs to take any action as result of being removed from the April Mortgages conveyancing panel.

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

On the basis that your firm in is on the April Mortgages conveyancing panel and you are acting for 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 April Mortgages are to lend, they may require indemnity insurance. In any event,you will need to check April Mortgages’s specific requirements. Notwithstanding whether April Mortgages will lend in such circumstances you still need to advise the borrower (unless you are acting for April Mortgages alone) as to the risks of buying a property with an insolvent or absentee freeholder.

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 negatively affect your application but gives the Law Society viability as to what has happened.

You should communicate with April Mortgages to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook has an express section for lenders to enumerate who to contact to obtain standard documents. April Mortgages in their Part 2’s state: You will need to quote the firm’s April Mortgages solicitors panel number.