Magellan Homeloans Conveyancing Panel Information

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.

One might ordinarily expect Magellan Homeloans via their Part Two conditions to address this but the Handbook is silent on deadlines to send deeds. You need to look at the Terms of Magellan Homeloans’s Conveyancing Panel Appointment that you entered into. For many lender's these Terms have a provision along the following lines: ‘To keep us informed of the reasons for any delay in your being able to send the title deeds and documents we require to us within 3 months of completion or evidence of proof of registration within that period. (We will send reminders if the deeds have not been received but will not acknowledge receipt of deeds’ It is imperative to keep Magellan Homeloans informed. Law firms can often compound their problems by not communicating with the lender when there is a delay or problem.

During 2013, 129 sections of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook P2 were changed by Magellan Homeloans. Some changes are more important than others but as a firm on the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel you are of course obliged to comply with individual lender requirements, as set out in Part II of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. Locktons have recently pointed out in an article that non-compliance with Part 2 requirements account for a number of high value claims, and it is therefore important to be aware of any particularly onerous terms that an individual lender may impose.

Remember: CML requirements are not guidelines; they are the lender client’s instructions.

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

In the circumstances please explain on the application what action you have taken to discover 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 putting you on notice?

You would be advised to get in touch with Magellan Homeloans to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook includes an individual inquiry for banks to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Magellan Homeloans in their Part 2’s state: Don’t forget to quote your Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel reference.