Conveyancing Firms, Death by Stealth?

Over the course of the last week I have received emails from conveyancing firms who have had varying issues with a number of lenders, including, the Yorkshire Building Society, the Principality, Nottingham Building Society, Santander, HSBC and Lloyds. I am pleased to say that in most (but not all) cases those issues have been resolved satisfactorily.

Lenders have different panel requirements, and different appeal processes (if they have one at all). None that I know of will divulge the reason for panel removal or panel membership refusal. That seems unfair. To say conveyancing practices are confused would be an understatement.

The legal profession rarely unites. In most cases firms say “we are all right, let’s pull up the drawbridge.” Only to find later that they have problems but no support from other quarters. Now is the time to unite.

“Did you know that Accord had a separate panel for buy to let mortgages? We have just lost a client who had instructed us on a purchase and two remortgages. They have their standard resi panel, which we are on, and then the separate panel for BTL which we are not on. They say there are only two firms on the BTL panel, and no chance of access to this.”

What I would welcome and already have with a few lenders, is an open and honest discussion about this issue before the legal profession and lenders end up at loggerheads once more.

You can find out more about the Bold Legal Group by contacting me (Rob Hailstone) on rh@boldlegal.co.uk.