Precise Mortgages Conveyancing Panel Information

The information on this page is designed to keep solicitors and licensed conveyancers abreast of latest requirements changes by Precise Mortgages and to assist in remaining on the Precise Mortgages Solicitors Panel.

Looking for information about your firm's panel status?

How does my firm apply to be on the Precise Mortgages Solicitors Panel?

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How can my firm be reinstated onto the Precise Mortgages Solicitors Panel?

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Precise Mortgages Conveyancing Panel: Recently Asked Questions

Are Precise Mortgages Conveyancing panel solicitors under an obligation to disclose incentives?

Precise Mortgages’s answer to this question can be found at section 6.4.4 of their CML Part 2 requirements

Can you suggest any advice if we wish to challenge being removed from the Precise Mortgages conveyancing panel?

If you are removed from the Precise Mortgages conveyancing panel and you are unaware of or disagree with the reasons for your removal you should: (a) Contact Precise Mortgages directly. (b) If there is an appeals process detailed on your letter you should follow the process.

In appealing a decision by Precise Mortgages, it may be useful to provide the following information:

Full account of your firm’s conveyancing history
Your COMPLETIONmonitor reports, assuming you use the Lexsure software
Your recent claims history
Full details of all staff in your firm and their position.
Note down if a solicitor has been admitted to the role on completion of the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test.
Supply duplicate practising certificates, the firm's current professional indemnity policy and the firm’s accountant's certificate, setting out the % of the firm's gross fee income is generated from residential conveyancing

On appeal some conveyancing firms have been able to regain membership to panels notwithstanding the policy by the respective lenders to refuse panel membership to firms with certain profiles or characteristics. Success is primarily due to the firms’ ability to persuade the lender to make an exception if there is sufficient evidence to reassure them that the firm has a healthy attitude towards risk mitigation.

A recent SRA survey reveals that 76% of solicitors have been removed from a lender conveyancing panel. Precise Mortgages and other lenders have restricted their panel over the years. Why?

In operating open conveyancing panels, lenders such as Precise Mortgages 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.

Precise Mortgages 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.

Does my firm face removal off the Precise Mortgages solicitor panel if I have not sent the title deed on a purchase within a certain period of completion?

One might ordinarily expect Precise Mortgages via their Part 2 conditions to address this but the Handbook is silent on time frames. Do look at the Terms of Precise Mortgages’s Conveyancing Panel Appointment that you are bound by. For a number of banks these Terms have a provision such as: ‘To keep us informed of the reasons for any delay in your being able to send the title deeds and documents we require to us within 3 months of completion or evidence of proof of registration within that period. (We will send reminders if the deeds have not been received but will not acknowledge receipt of deeds’ It is imperative to keep Precise Mortgages updated. Law firms can often compound their problems by not communicating with the lender when there is a delay or problem.

In conducting leasehold due diligence do Precise Mortgages panel solicitors have to consider if there is an insolvent landlord?

Assuming that your firm in is on the Precise Mortgages conveyancing panel and you are representing them in relation to a leasehold property, you must report to them if it becomes apparent that the landlord is either absent or insolvent. If Precise Mortgages are to lend, they may require indemnity insurance. In any event,you will need to check Precise Mortgages’s specific requirements. Notwithstanding whether Precise Mortgages will lend in such circumstances you still need to advise the borrower (unless you are acting for Precise Mortgages alone) as to the risks of buying a property with an insolvent or absentee freeholder.

We had our Precise Mortgages panel membership terminated but we have not yet been given an explanation yet. I am completing a CQS application form what details do I need to report?

In this situation please explain on the form what action you have taken to discover the reasons behind cancellation of your Precise Mortgages panel membership. In particular please provide details if you have received communications from the lender. E.G. before termination of your panel membership did you receive any letters or calls from the lender advising you as to their reasons?

Our practice is on the Precise Mortgages conveyancing panel and all set to complete a purchase within the next week. My papers do not include a Legal Charge for the client to execute. Who do I contact at Precise Mortgages to request substitute deeds?

You would be advised to communicate with Precise Mortgages to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook incorporates an express inquiry for lenders to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Precise Mortgages in their Part 2’s state:

You will need to disclose your Precise Mortgages solicitors panel number.

Find a Lawyer on the Precise Mortgages Solicitors Panel

Average number of days to register title including a charge in favour of Precise Mortgages

This information relates to purchase only and not remortgages.

Year	Days*
2025	[no data]
2024	[no data]
2023	[no data]
2022	[no data]
2021	[no data]
2020	[no data]

* Data aggregated from sources including COMPLETIONmonitor

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