Licensed conveyancers unveil rival to CQS

The Society of Licensed Conveyancers (SLC) is to launch a rival to the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme.

The SLC Quality Assured scheme, which will be formally launched next year, has been developed jointly with the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC).

John Clay, chairman of the SLC, said that while the CQS scheme had gone 'some way to addressing the issues associated with lenders' panels', lenders saw CQS as 'just part of the overall solution'.

He went on: 'We felt there was a gap in the market for a universally accepted and recognised standard, designed specifically for licensed conveyancers, which builds on the strong regulatory framework provided by the CLC.'

Clay said lenders would benefit from 'reduced fraud risk and additional transaction protection' and help them maintain an 'inclusive policy' towards licensed conveyancers and smaller firms.

A spokeswoman for the SLC said the CLC would 'take on the role of gatekeeper, controlling panel qualification and providing lenders with the added assurance that all SLC panel firms are fully regulated and bound by a rigorous set of criteria'.

Once on the panel she said firms 'will be required to register all new transactions with the SLC system and information on the transaction's progress will be made available to the lender at critical points throughout the process. This information will also be made available to the regulator.

'Throughout the process, constant monitoring of the firm managing the transaction will be undertaken by a central operations team, provided by the SLC, alongside monitoring of the 'other party' firm.'

The spokeswoman added that the new scheme had been discussed with the Council of Mortgage Lenders and Building Societies Association.