Kensington Mortgage Conveyancing Panel Information

The CML, together with Kensington Mortgage and other stakeholders developed a standard set of requirements where a solicitor is acting for a lender such as Kensington Mortgage alone in a residential conveyancing matter. These requirements are contained at Part Three of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook and are to be read in conjunction with Part I and II. The CML have published an example requirements letter to the borrower’s lawyer for use by the lender's conveyancer, and sets out to the borrower's conveyancer, the documentary and information requirements of the lender's panel conveyancer.

The CML Part II requirements of Kensington Mortgage are silent on this. Most lenders address the question of file retention via their Terms of panel appointment where they generally provide that for evidential purposes, the firm must keep the file for at least of 6 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 Kensington Mortgage’s interest. To be absolutely sure of Kensington Mortgage requirements in this regard please check the Terms and Conditions of Kensington Mortgage’s conveyancing panel appointment.

We can't comment specifically on Kensington Mortgage. Many major lenders are now introducing ‘file auditing’ as standard practice in relation to completed matters. This raises questions of confidentiality in relation to the buyer client and the purpose to which the results of such audits will be put. The starting point is to remember that the file does not belong to your firm, it belongs to the ‘client’. But, of course, we will normally have two clients – the buyer and the lender - and you will owe a duty of confidentiality to each. So basically, you have to separate the file and just send the lender the parts solely relating to themselves. But, of course, as this will basically be correspondence with the lender, mortgage instructions etc.

Check with your COLP but a firm should not send the complete conveyancing file without the buyer client’s express consent – and if he is in dispute with the lender he is hardly likely to agree. However, if the lender can establish a prima facie case of fraud, then you may be under an obligation to disclose the whole file.

The emerging convention is that lenders are including an authority to disclose in loan application forms to counter this problem. Mortgage Express v Sawali, [2010] EWHC 3054 (Ch) indicates that such provisions are valid. Please click here for more information about that case.

You need to be careful here as what you are proposing may not be acceptable to the lender. 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 will 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.

The best placed professionals to answer this question are your insurance brokers. The chances are that on the basis that you have not been removed for fraud or negligence reasons that there will be little or no impact. The main reason why a firm would be removed off of a lender panel is due to low volume of conveyancing cases although there may be a number of criteria for Kensington Mortgage solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You need to contact Kensington Mortgage to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook includes an explicit inquiry for banks to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Kensington Mortgage in their Part 2’s state: Please remember to disclose the firm’s Kensington Mortgage conveyancing panel reference.