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approved by Kent Reliance

UK lenders have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Lloyds Banking Group, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for decades.

Banks blame a rise in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been tightened and a smaller panel should be easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels, or have other concerns about them. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyer’s case. Your purchasers are unlikely to have any sway in the decision.

The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and Kent Reliance are the client. A precondition to being on the Kent Reliance approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Kent Reliance). The CML Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects will the lease so that Kent Reliance can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected . Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.

The solicitor and licensed conveyancing practices listed on our site have advised us that they are on the Kent Reliance panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the Kent Reliance panel. To date we have not been informed by either a bank or a member of the public that the data about a specific firm being on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel is incorrect.

If you intend to re-mortgage then Kent Reliance will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Kent Reliance conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Kent Reliance conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Kent Reliance mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.

Lenders such as Kent Reliance can revoke their mortgage offer although this rarely happens. should Kent Reliance withdraw their offer they may or may not inform you or the lawyer as to their reasoning. There are various possible reasons but here are a number of examples:

• If the financial circumstances of the borrower have changed to the detriment and the Kent Reliance has been notified

• A cashback to the buyer, or | part of the price includes a non-cash incentive to the buyer (eg paid stamp duty land tax),or | any indirect incentive (cash or non cash) or rental guarantee, of which the lender was previously unaware