About CQS Conveyancing

The recent news that the majority of the top ten lenders have declared they will use ‘all monies charges’ to repossess homes if borrowers struggle with non-mortgage debts should be cause for concern to conveyancing practitioners. File Reviews for Handbook Compliance More repossessions equals increased file reviews and inevitably the spotlight being placed on the lender handbook compliance. John Kunzler, senior vice president in the financial and professional practice at Marsh recently pointed out in an article entitled ‘Grasping the nettle of conveyancing claims’ : ‘...when the property market falls solicitors are often held to account for negligently performing conveyancing and, more recently, in particular failing to follow the instructions set out in the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ (CML) Handbook. For those who have worked in professional indemnity for decades, it may feel like solicitors are perpetually doomed to repeat this cycle’ A review of Marsh statistics on...

A number of lenders made changes to their Handbook last month. Perhaps not surprisingly some focused on changes to leasehold requirements. Examples of lenders who made changes (England and Wales region) include: Yorkshire Building Society  (2 sections) Scottish Widows Bank (5 sections) Swansea Building Society  (1 section) Chelsea Building Society  (2 sections) Market Harborough Building made set an interesting new requirement relating to ground rents. Their new wording at 5.14.9 reads: a. Any ground rent at the start of the mortgage term should not exceed annually £250 outside of London or a £1,000 inside London. If this is the case you must immediately contact the Society. We will advise you if our mortgage offer remains valid. b. Ground rent and other event fees must be reasonable at all times during the lease term. For example, it is acceptable for ground rent escalation to be linked to RPI (Retail Price Index) or a similar index and where this is...