Metro Bank Conveyancing Panel Information

Many estate agents will be suffering if their clients start out on the conveyancing process having appointed a conveyancer who is not on the panel with the purchaser’s chosen lender. Many conveyancing firms are only discovering when they begin working on a case that they are no longer able to work with that lender. Given the inevitable resultant delays in the transaction the chances of an abortive deal increases dramatically. in the circumstances there is understandable anguish on the part of the estate agent as a result of the lost time should the client have to change solicitors .

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 Metro Bank conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

Automated alerting to inform lenders when there is a fundamental change to the firm (e.g. change of name)

List of all those staff who work within the conveyancing team

Whether the firm has ever knowingly accepted instructions on transactions involving Sale and Rent Back, Back to Back, Exchange and Delayed Completion and Lease Option, Below Market Value.

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

List of all solicitors within firm

List of all those who fund the firm, including non-lawyers if applicable

Areas of Law covered by the firm

Full disciplinary history for each conveyancing solicitor

Full disciplinary history for each licensed conveyancer

Firm name, address and contact details including all branches (including evidence of existence through risk-based physical visits and Google Streetview checks)

In operating open conveyancing panels, lenders such as Metro Bank face a number of fraud and negligence risks. While there is no authoritative source of data on lender exposure to solicitor–led mortgage fraud, anecdotal evidence from lenders indicates exposure on individual cases are often in the millions of pounds. The National Fraud Authority estimates that £1bn per year is lost in mortgage -related frauds in total, which is seen as a conservative estimate.

These risks are exacerbated by the lack of a comprehensive set of data on all conveyancing firms (which, for the avoidance of doubt, would include solicitors and conveyancers across the UK) which is in a readily accessible format. Currently, lenders vet the suitability of their panel firms against a variety of disparate, incomplete and potentially inaccurate sets of information. One top 5 lender pointed out to us that it is almost impossible to track individual fraudsters who move from firm to firm, especially where they are no longer registered or no longer hold a valid practicing certificate.

Metro Bank and other lenders are in varying stages of reviewing their approach to vetting firms on their conveyancing panels, to ensure their ongoing exposure to unsuitable firms is reduced. There is also regulatory impetus on lenders to ensure that they have satisfactory oversight of their third party panels, including a due-diligence process.

With lenders and conveyancers working so closely with one another it is surprising that there has not been much call for the introduction of a bit of transparency regarding not just the figures for the Metro Bank conveyancing panel but for all lender panel listings

CQS membership gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a prerequisite for firms wishing to join their approved list of firms. A number of mortgage companies now use the scheme as the starting point for Panel membership such as Astra Mortgages.

You would be advised to contact Metro Bank to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook contains an individual question for lenders to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Metro Bank in their Part 2’s state: Always remember to disclose your Metro Bank conveyancing panel number.