Market Harborough Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

The CML Part II requirements of Market Harborough Building Society are silent on this. Most mortgage companies deal with the question of file retention via their Terms and Conditions where they generally provide that for evidential purposes, the firm must keep the file for a minimum six 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 Market Harborough Building Society’s interest. To be absolutely sure of Market Harborough Building Society requirements in this regard please check the Terms and Conditions of Market Harborough Building Society’s conveyancing panel membership.

Although not necessarily published, lenders have varying criteria . We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the Market Harborough Building Society conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

Details of any accreditation e.g. Lexcel or

Full career history for each licensed conveyancer including registration date with Council of Licensed Conveyancers

Charge registration history

purchase and remortgage)

Full disciplinary history for each licensed conveyancer

List of all those staff who work within the conveyancing team

Full complaints history for each conveyancing solicitor

top-up split and history of any refusals

Full career history for each solicitor including admission date to the relevant Law Society

Whether the firm has ever applied for accreditation and the outcome of the application

What you should do largely depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the Market Harborough Building Society conveyancing panel. The top 3 reasons are as follows:

1. lack of transactions
2. the lawyer is a sole practitioner
3. as part of the HSBC panel reduction.

In these three circumstances it is unlikely that you would expected to take any action. Disclosure and other compliance considerations are more likely to be relevant if the reason for removal is due to breaches of lender requirements or allegations of fraud or negligence. Whether the reasoning should trigger a disclosable 'material' breach will depend on the firm and the circumstances around possible failures to comply with the SRA Authorisation Rules, and the SRA will judge each case on its own merits. Factors such as the detriment or risk of detriment to clients, the scale of the issue and overall impact on the firm will need to be considered in deciding whether a failure is 'material'. As the compliance officer you will need systems to identify patterns of breaches. Even if you don't consider there to be regulatory implications the firms COFA should give some thought to whether she/he needs to take any action as result of being removed from the Market Harborough Building Society conveyancing panel.

When a solicitor is acting for both Market Harborough Building Society and borrower there is potential for conflicts to arise. You owe duties to both clients. All information received by you from your client is confidential and cannot be disclosed without the client’s consent. In the situation you find yourself in if the purchaser will not consent to the information being passed on to the lender the solicitor must cease to act for the Market Harborough Building Society and it may well be prudent you to cease to act for the purchaser as well. You can not tell the Market Harborough Building Society the reason for termination of the retainer over and above the fact that a conflict has arisen. The fact that you can no longer act should alert even the most somnambulistic of lenders that something is wrong with the borrower and/or purchase. The fact that you have disinstructed yourself should not affect your Market Harborough Building Society conveyancing panel status.

It would be advisable to 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 viability as to what has gone on.

You would be advised to communicate with Market Harborough Building Society to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook contains an individual question for lenders to reveal who to contact to obtain standard documents. Market Harborough Building Society in their Part 2’s state: Don’t forget to quote your Market Harborough Building Society conveyancing panel reference.