Bank of Scotland Private Conveyancing Panel Information

What you should do largely depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the Bank of Scotland Private 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 Bank of Scotland Private conveyancing panel.

You need to be careful here as what you are proposing may not be acceptable to the mortgage company. It is possible that you (as a non-panel firm) or the mortgage applicant are not entitled instruct a panel firm of your choice. Lenders such as Nationwide BS make it clear to their panel firms that where a non-panel member firm is instructed by one of their mortgage applicants, the lender must appoint a panel firm to carry out its instructions and to liaise with the borrower's conveyancing firm. You also need to make the costs implications and potential for delay very clear to your client.

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 Bank of Scotland Private conveyancing panel to see if you are entitled to a reason.

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

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 firm’s application but gives the Law Society viability as to what has occured.

You should communicate with Bank of Scotland Private to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook contains an explicit question for lenders to enumerate who to contact to obtain standard documents. Bank of Scotland Private in their Part 2’s state: You will need to quote the firm’s Bank of Scotland Private conveyancing panel number.