Leeds Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

The Council of Mortgage Lender requirements of Leeds Building Society are silent on this. Most mortgage companies deal with 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 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 Leeds Building Society’s interest. To be absolutely sure of Leeds Building Society requirements in this regard please check the Terms and Conditions of Leeds Building Society’s conveyancing panel acceptance.

We can't comment specifically on Leeds Building Society. 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 borrower 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 she 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.

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 Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel to see if you are entitled to a reason.

You should 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 CQS team a complete picture of what has happened.

You would be advised to communicate with Leeds Building Society to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook has an express section for lenders to enumerate who to contact to obtain standard documents. Leeds Building Society in their Part 2’s state: It is likely that you will need to disclose your Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel number.