Perenna Conveyancing Panel Information

Criteria differ from lender to lender. We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the Perenna conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

List of all those staff who work within the conveyancing team

Number of lender conveyancing panels the firm is currently on

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

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

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

top-up split and history of any refusals

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

The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (broken down into sale

Full complaints history for each conveyancing solicitor

In operating open conveyancing panels, lenders such as Perenna 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.

Perenna 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.

During 2013, 0 sections of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook P2 were changed by Perenna. Some changes are more important than others but as a firm on the Perenna conveyancing panel you are of course obliged to comply with individual lender requirements, as set out in Part II of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. Locktons have recently pointed out in an article that non-compliance with Part 2 requirements account for a number of high value claims, and it is therefore important to be aware of any particularly onerous terms that an individual lender may impose.

Remember: CML requirements are not guidelines; they are the lender client’s instructions.

The key here is the caveat ‘more onerous’. You have to try and take an objective view as to whether the Terms relating to the Perenna conveyancing appointment (or other terms for other lenders) are ‘more onerous’ than the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Conditions. Depending on the Terms you may need to provide details on your renewal form. If you are in any doubt please call your broker to discuss before moving forward on this question.

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 Perenna solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You would be advised to get in touch with Perenna to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook has an express question for lenders to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Perenna in their Part 2’s state: Please remember to disclose the firm’s Perenna conveyancing panel number.