LendInvest Conveyancing Panel Information

The requirements to join the LendInvest conveyancing panel is likely to be fairly detailed and is unlikely to include signing up to LENDERmonitor alerts.

The Council of Licensed Conveyancers has initiated discussions with lenders and their representative bodies to see whether and how the risks that lenders wish to mitigate could be addressed through the regulatory framework rather than via ad hoc arrangements that can differ from lender to lender. We expect that that the CLC have been in touch with lenders such as LendInvest as well as the CML.

We can't comment specifically on LendInvest. 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 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.

7 potential conveyancing clients search for a solicitor on the LendInvest panel every 4 weeks in Hendon. Feel free to contact the Lexsure team who will tell how your firm can be found by those searching for conveyancing in Hendon.

CQS accreditation is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a prerequisite for firms wishing to remain on their approved list of firms. Some Lenders now use the scheme as the starting point for Panel acceptance such as HSBC.

You would be advised to get in touch with LendInvest to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook incorporates an individual question for banks to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. LendInvest in their Part 2’s state: Please remember to disclose your LendInvest solicitors panel number.