What do Santander propose to do with Licensed Conveyancers?

A significant proportion of the conveyancing industry risk being removed from Santander’s conveyancing panel at the end of March unless they obtain the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation.

A Santander spokesman said: ‘As part of the bank’s efforts to manage risks associated with mortgage lending, we are committed to managing our panel of conveyancing providers. CQS provides a means of maintaining choice and high standards for our customers while addressing those risks,’ he said.

This does beg the question as to what is happening with licensed conveyancers who can not apply to be CQS accredited. If Santander allow licensed conveyancers to automatically be on their panel this could result in solicitors converting to licensed conveyancers by way of an ABS - directly or indirectly through an ABS.