Secure Trust Bank Conveyancing Panel Information

The Scottish Law Society has suggested that solicitors should check their lender panel status prior to accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Secure Trust Bank conveyancing panel. The suggestion 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

Although not necessarily published, lenders have varying criteria . We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the Secure Trust Bank conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

purchase and remortgage)

Summary of annual accounts

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

Structure of firm and, where applicable, its group

Charge registration history

List of all those who fund the firm, including non-lawyers if applicable

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

List of all Licensed Conveyancers within firm

Full disciplinary history for each licensed conveyancer

Number of lender conveyancing panels the firm is currently on

What you should do largely depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the Secure Trust Bank 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 COLP 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 Secure Trust Bank conveyancing panel.

15 people attempt to locate a property lawyer on the Secure Trust Bank panel every 4 weeks in Hendon. The lenderpanel directory service team who will show you how your firm can be identified by those searching for conveyancing in Hendon.

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

You should communicate with Secure Trust Bank to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook incorporates an individual section for banks to enumerate who to contact to obtain standard documents. Secure Trust Bank in their Part 2’s state: It is likely that you will need to disclose the firm’s Secure Trust Bank solicitors panel reference.