Magellan Homeloans Conveyancing Panel Information

Magellan Homeloans’s answer to this question can be found at section 6.4.4 of their CML Part 2 requirements

The criteria to join the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel is likely to be fairly detailed and is unlikely to include signing up to LENDERmonitor alerts.

We can't comment specifically on Magellan Homeloans. 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 arrears 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.

Given that your practice in is on the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel and you are representing them in relation to a leasehold property, you must report to them if it becomes apparent that the landlord is either absent or insolvent. If Magellan Homeloans are to lend, they may require indemnity insurance. In any event,you will need to check Magellan Homeloans’s specific requirements. Notwithstanding whether Magellan Homeloans will lend in such circumstances you still need to advise the borrower (unless you are acting for Magellan Homeloans alone) as to the risks of buying a property with an insolvent or absentee freeholder.

In this situation please explain on the application what steps you have taken to find out the reasons behind cancellation of your Magellan Homeloans 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 informing you as to why they reached this decision?

You should get in touch with Magellan Homeloans to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook has an explicit section for lenders to reveal who to contact to obtain standard documents. Magellan Homeloans in their Part 2’s state: It helps to quote your Magellan Homeloans solicitors panel number.