Reliance Bank Conveyancing Panel Information

Reliance Bank’s answer to this question can be found at section 6.4.4 of their UK Finance Part 2 requirements

The Scottish Law Society has advised 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 Reliance Bank 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 moneysavingexpert.com

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

List of fee-earners who are foreign qualified

Number of lender conveyancing panels the firm is currently on

Whether the firm has ever accepted instructions in respect of property clubs and investment schemes

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

House price discrepancies (declared to lender vs. registered at Land Registry)

Full complaints history for each conveyancing 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.

Summary of annual accounts

List of all those staff who work within the conveyancing team

Solicitor

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

You should communicate with Reliance Bank to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook incorporates an express section for lenders to reveal who to contact to obtain standard documents. Reliance Bank in their Part 2’s state: You will need to quote your Reliance Bank conveyancing panel number.