HSBC pilots expanded conveyancing panel

HSBC will pilot a new process for its expanded conveyancing panel which will include all CQS-accredited firms from 14 August before rolling it out to the whole of England and Wales by the end of the month, it has been confirmed.

The move implements the agreement reached with the Law Society on 17 May after the bank’s decision to trim its panel to just 43 firms in March provoked a backlash among solicitors and was followed by a drop in mortgage applications.

Explaining the delay Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said both organisations felt it “essential that all systems and customer communications in relation to the new arrangement are correct and that customers and solicitors benefit from great experience from the outset.

“We both want the arrangement to work which is why we are seeking to make the process as trouble free as possible.”

The deal provides that all ‘tier 1’ firms – the 43 that had remained on the panel – will stay on the panel. All firms members of the Conveyancing Quality Scheme, known as ‘tier 2’, will be allowed on the panel without clients having to pay an additional £160 fee, as HSBC initially demanded.

Non-CQS firms

The new system will only apply to mortgage applications completed on or after 29 August and clients instructing other firms, classed as ‘tier 3’, will still have to pay the extra £160 fee.

Much of the delay in giving effect to the agreed plan has been caused by HSBC updating its system to make sure that its own database of CQS firms was synchronised with the Law Society’s own, which is updated once a week.

The lender has also undertaken a training programme to make sure all its mortgage advisers were up to date with the options available to clients in relation to conveyancing, particularly as the date for the final roll out approaches.

The news came as another high street lender, Santander, announced it would be cutting down its conveyancing panel.

It is not yet known how many firms will be affected and what criteria Santander will apply but the Law Society has asked the bank to clarify the basis on which firms would be kept on or excluded from the panel.

One particular concern is that the main criterion appears be the number of transactions firms have carried out to Santander. It would also appear irrelevant that a firm had already paid Santander £199 in joining fee plus its annual £99 panel membership.

Nationwide came in for strong criticism last year when it reorganised its conveyancing panel, with accusations that it was in fact seeking to remove smaller firms. It later emerged that the lender had merely been tidying up its database, with little evidence that a particular category of firm had been targeted, according to a Solicitors Journal insider.