Bank of Scotland Private Conveyancing Panel Information

The criteria to join the Bank of Scotland Private conveyancing panel is likely to be fairly detailed and is unlikely to include signing up to LENDERmonitor alerts.

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.

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.

There are various requirements are to followed if you wish to comply with your lender client’s instructions as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. (a) You must take reasonable steps to verify that there are no discrepancies between the description of the property as valued and the title and other documents which a reasonably competent conveyancer should obtain, and, if there are, you must tell Bank of Scotland Private immediately. (b) You should take reasonable steps to verify that the assumptions stated by the valuer about the title (for example, its tenure, easements, boundaries and restrictions on its use) in the valuation and as stated in Bank of Scotland Private’s mortgage offer are correct. If they are not, please let Bank of Scotland Private know as soon as possible as it will be necessary for Bank of Scotland Private to check with the valuer whether the valuation needs to be revised. Bank of Scotland Private conveyancing panel solicitors are not expected to assume the role of valuer. Bank of Scotland Private are simply trying to ensure that the valuer has valued the property based on correct information. (c) Bank of Scotland Private recommend that you should advise the borrower that there may be defects in the property which are not revealed by the inspection carried out by their valuer and there may be omissions or inaccuracies in the report which do not matter to them as a lender but which would matter to the borrower. Bank of Scotland Private recommend that, if we send a copy of a valuation report that Bank of Scotland Private have obtained, you should also advise the borrower that the borrower should not rely on the report in deciding whether to proceed with the purchase and that he obtains his own more detailed report on the condition and value of the property, based on a fuller inspection such as a homebuyers report or structural survey. If you do not receive a copy of the valuation you can always ask for a copy of one from Bank of Scotland Private or the borrower. You still need to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Requirement relating to valuation reports even if you don't receive one directly. Failure to comply not only runs the risk of facing a claim by the lender but also being removed from the Bank of Scotland Private conveyancing panel

It would be advisable to 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 negatively affect your firm’s application but gives the CQS team viability as to what has happened.

You need to get in touch with Bank of Scotland Private to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook includes an explicit inquiry for lenders to cite who to contact to obtain standard documents. Bank of Scotland Private in their Part 2’s state: It is likely that you will need to disclose the firm’s Bank of Scotland Private conveyancing panel number.