Masthaven Bank Conveyancing Panel Information

We only know of a couple of lenders that operate a distinct conveyancing panel where the mortgage advance is over a certain amount. You should nevertheless check directly with Masthaven Bank. At one stage HSBC would only allow Sole practitioners to act for them where the mortgage was below £150,000. We are not sure if HSBC still operate such a condition. In your case it is best to check with Masthaven Bank

There are many reports available, five of which are as follows:

• Average mortgage advance
• Number of conveyancing cases by lender
• The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (broken down into sale/purchase and remortgage)
• Evidence of undertaking logs
• Disclosure/Notification to Lender analysis indicating frequency and nature of disclosures - to include benchmarking analysis against aggregate data

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

There are various requirements you need to follow if you wish to comply with your lender client’s instructions as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. First, You must take reasonable steps to verify that there are no discrepancies between the description of the property as valued and the title and other documents which a reasonably competent conveyancer should obtain, and, if there are, you must tell Masthaven Bank immediately. Second, You should take reasonable steps to verify that the assumptions stated by the valuer about the title (for example, its tenure, easements, boundaries and restrictions on its use) in the valuation and as stated in Masthaven Bank’s mortgage offer are correct. If they are not, please let Masthaven Bank know as soon as possible as it will be necessary for Masthaven Bank to check with the valuer whether the valuation needs to be revised. Masthaven Bank conveyancing panel solicitors are not expected to assume the role of valuer. Masthaven Bank are simply trying to ensure that the valuer has valued the property based on correct information. Thirdly, Masthaven Bank recommend that you should advise the borrower that there may be defects in the property which are not revealed by the inspection carried out by their valuer and there may be omissions or inaccuracies in the report which do not matter to them as a lender but which would matter to the borrower. Masthaven Bank recommend that, if we send a copy of a valuation report that Masthaven Bank have obtained, you should also advise the borrower that the borrower should not rely on the report in deciding whether to proceed with the purchase and that he obtains his own more detailed report on the condition and value of the property, based on a fuller inspection such as a homebuyers report or structural survey. If you do not receive a copy of the valuation you can always ask for a copy of one from Masthaven Bank or the borrower. You still need to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Requirement relating to valuation reports even if you don't receive one directly. Failure to comply not only runs the risk of facing a claim by the lender but also being removed from the Masthaven Bank conveyancing panel

It would be advisable to provide details of the date of removal, information on the reason for removal, date of appeal and any reason given for reinstatement. This should not adversely impact your application but gives the Law Society viability as to what has occured.

You need to communicate with Masthaven Bank to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook contains an explicit inquiry for lenders to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Masthaven Bank in their Part 2’s state: It helps to disclose your Masthaven Bank solicitors panel reference.