Conveyancers have been warned by the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders that continually sending needless correspondence will interrupt the home buying and selling process for their clients.
They advised conveyancers that it could have been avoided by simply checking the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook first before sending out unnecessary letters to them.
In the Law Society’s National Property Conference this month, Robert Stevens, head of property risk operations, data and strategy at Nationwide told them that the building society take possession of an “awful lot of correspondence on a daily basis – the good, the bad and the ugly’.
An example of unnecessary letters was when a conveyancer wrote to the lender saying:
‘Please find enclosed solar panel lease for your consideration. Please confirm that you are happy to proceed.’
Stevens commented on this by saying:
‘My view on that is you have got clear UK Finance Handbook guidance on what needs to be in a solar panel lease.
“He said correspondence was unnecessary unless the conveyancer was flagging up a concern.”
The building society also confirmed that they have received numerous and pointless letters about ground rent too. One letter wrote:
“We would like to inform you of the ground rent as during the term of the lease the ground rent will increase beyond £1,000. We propose putting an escalating ground rent policy in place in respect of this, please can you kindly confirm if you are agreeable to the same.”
Steven added:
‘These are just a few examples, but they are all challenging ones where it causes problems, and extra delays and time – your time as well.’
One Response
The failure to deal with issues demonstrates how conveyancing needs to be transferred to others