RBS- First Active Conveyancing Panel Information

The Council of Mortgage Lender requirements of RBS- First Active are silent on this. Most lenders address the issue of file retention via their Terms of panel appointment where they generally provide that for evidential purposes, the firm must keep the file for a minimum six years from the date of the mortgage. Data imagining is normally suitable compliance with this requirement. Many lenders point out in that it is the practice of some fraudsters to demand the conveyancing file on completion in order to destroy evidence that may later be used against them. It is therefore important to retain these documents to protect RBS- First Active’s interest. To be absolutely sure of RBS- First Active requirements in this regard please check the Terms and Conditions of RBS- First Active’s conveyancing panel acceptance.

Although not necessarily published, lenders have varying criteria . We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the RBS- First Active conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

List of fee-earners who are foreign qualified

Automated alerting to inform lenders when there is a fundamental change to the firm (e.g. new disciplinary action)

List of all Licensed Conveyancers within firm

List of all those who fund the firm, including non-lawyers if applicable

Full complaints history for each licensed conveyancer

Details of any accreditation e.g. Lexcel or

Whether the firm has ever knowingly accepted instructions on transactions involving Sale and Rent Back, Back to Back, Exchange and Delayed Completion and Lease Option, Below Market Value.

Full career history for each licensed conveyancer including registration date with Council of Licensed Conveyancers

Whether any lender has ever made a claim against the firm’s PII cover

top-up split and history of any refusals

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. Many lenders 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 conveyancer. You also need to make the costs implications and potential for delay very clear to your client.

You will be aware of the trend in recent years for lenders such as RBS- First Active 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 RBS- First Active panel. The situation that you find yourself in is where your client’s purchaser has his/her own lawyer and RBS- First Active 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 RBS- First Active’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 RBS- First Active. You will no doubt be required to undertake directly to RBS- First Active’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 RBS- First Active conveyancing panel.

In the circumstances please clarify on the form what action you have taken to discover the reasons behind cancellation of your RBS- First Active panel membership. In particular please provide details if you have received communications from the lender. E.G. before cessation of your panel membership did you receive any letters or calls from the lender advising you as to their reasons?

You need to contact RBS- First Active to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook has a specific question for banks to cite who to contact to obtain standard documents. RBS- First Active in their Part 2’s state: It is likely that you will need to quote your RBS- First Active conveyancing panel number.