Pepper Money Conveyancing Panel Information

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

Full disciplinary history for each licensed conveyancer

PII Cover details, including, if relevant, whether the firm is or has been in the assigned risks pool and structure of cover – basic

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

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

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 disciplinary history for each conveyancing solicitor

Areas of Law covered by the firm

List of all those who can sign off the Certificate Of Title

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

List of all those staff who work within the conveyancing team

The answer to this question really depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the Pepper Money 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 Pepper Money conveyancing panel.

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

The best placed professionals to answer this question are your insurance brokers. 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 Pepper Money solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You need to contact Pepper Money to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook incorporates an express inquiry for banks to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Pepper Money in their Part 2’s state: It helps to quote your Pepper Money conveyancing panel reference.