Mortgage Agency Services Conveyancing Panel Information

The Law Society of Scotland has suggested that solicitors should check their panel status with lenders prior to accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Mortgage Agency Services conveyancing panel. The recommendation arises from the practice of a number of mortgage lenders who remove solicitors from their panels without prior notice as part of their panel management system, which can lead to some solicitors discovering this only once instructed. This is sensible advice as a client finding out midway through a transaction that their lawyer is not on the approved lender panel is very frustrating and can lead to complaints. Many online consumer forums contain posts where someone is complaining about finding that their lawyer is not on a lender conveyancing panel. Such forums include mumsnet.com

Each lender has different criteria. We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the Mortgage Agency Services conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

Summary of annual accounts

Solicitor

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.

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

Full complaints history for each licensed conveyancer

List of all Licensed Conveyancers within firm

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

List of fee-earners who are foreign qualified

Number of lender conveyancing panels the firm is currently on

Charge registration history

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

For most lenders participation on the lender's panel of conveyancers is at the absolute discretion of the the lender. Many lenders reserve the right to accept or reject any application without giving any reason. You should check your original application to join the Mortgage Agency Services conveyancing panel to see if you are entitled to a reason.

Your insurance brokers are your best port of call to address this question. The chances are that on the basis that you have not been removed for fraud or negligence reasons that there will be little or no impact. The main reason why a firm would be removed off of a lender panel is due to low volume of conveyancing cases although there may be a number of criteria for Mortgage Agency Services solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You would be advised to communicate with Mortgage Agency Services to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook includes a specific question for banks to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Mortgage Agency Services in their Part 2’s state: Don’t forget to quote the firm’s Mortgage Agency Services conveyancing panel reference.