Magellan Homeloans Conveyancing Panel Information

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (or the BSA) do not involve themselves in training but they do organise a number of useful legal related conferences which are attended by firms on the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel. It is our intention to run specific lender focused seminars in the coming months including a webinar on Magellan Homeloans’s Part 2 obligations. Practitioners on the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel will be invited. Information about the webinar will be communicated as part of the LENDERmonitor Alerts.

In order to be on the Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel solicitors have to complete an application form and agree Terms and Conditions. A sample of 5 conditions that we see amongst many lenders Terms (but not necessarily Magellan Homeloans) are as follows:

• To quote on all communications with us relating to deeds/registration issues, whether by telephone or in writing, the panel number that we provide for each practising address and the mortgage account or application number for the mortgage concerned.
• You have the consent of all borrowers to apply for the deeds, before making any request for deeds. We will accept your request for deeds on the understanding that you have obtained such consent. If this is not the case then you should advise our Deeds Services Department in writing when you make your request
• To notify us in writing of any change in your details as held on our records for example, change of address, telephone number, document exchange number email address. Notification must be given to us at least 10 days before the change will be effective.
• If you are a sole practitioner, to arrange for appropriate locum cover from our panel where necessary. Your locum must be a member of the Conveyancing panel.
• To be responsible for the reconstitution of the title deeds (whether the title is registered or unregistered, at your own cost), where any deeds in your possession, or were last known to be in your possession, go missing.

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.

In the circumstances please explain on the form what action you have taken to discover the reasons behind cancellation of your Magellan Homeloans panel status. 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 advising you as to their reasons?

You should communicate with Magellan Homeloans to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook includes an express question for banks to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Magellan Homeloans in their Part 2’s state: Always remember to disclose the firm’s Magellan Homeloans conveyancing panel reference.