Tag: lender panel
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How to Check if a Solicitor is on a Lender’s Panel (And Why it Matters)
Don’t let a “non-panel” solicitor delay your house move. Learn how to use LenderPanel.com to verify your solicitor’s status, avoid double legal fees, and download our free “Panel Check” email template.
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Lender Panels: Shifting Sands
For the over decade, conveyancing firms have viewed lender panel membership as a stable foundation for their business. But the landscape is shifting. As was the case in 2010, the “set it and forget it” era of lender panel management is over, replaced by a climate of intense scrutiny, data-driven oversight, and a hardening of…
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LMS Lender Panel Removal
I have been receiving an influx of calls and emails from conveyancing firms recently regarding urgent communications from LMS. I expect much of the same from Lender Exchange in the months ahead. Conveyancing firms, regardless of whether they are CQS accredited, are being warned of potential removal from lender panels, a move that can have…
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Why the SRA’s 2025 AML Crackdown is a Direct Threat to Your Lender Panel Status
For many law firms, receiving a fine resulting from an SRA AML Audit is seen as a big disciplinary blow, a public “black mark” and a hit to the profit and loss account. However, as we move through 2025 and into 2026, a much more clinical and commercially devastating threat has emerged. The real danger…
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When AML Failures Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg
The SRA has moved to intervene in yet another multi-office firm, marking a total shutdown that serves as a sobering wake-up call for the legal sector. Operating across four counties with ten offices and 42 staff, the CQS accredited firm has been shuttered, and three solicitors have been suspended. While the solicitors themselves aren’t facing…
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The Email Every Senior Partner Dreads: When the SRA Meets Your Lender Panel
It is hardly news anymore: the SRA is on an AML warpath…again. Fines are up, patience is down, and the “unlimited” fining power is being flexed. But if you think a five-figure check to the regulator is your biggest problem, think again. The real “death blow” isn’t the fine. It’s the email that arrives some…
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LMS Lender Panel Fee Increase
LMS are set to increase the current £25 plus VAT per completion charge to £35 plus VAT for all instructions received on or after 1st March 2024 Instructions received prior to 1st March 2024 will continue to be paid at the current rate. All LMS lender panels remain free to join at the point application…
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Will Latest HMLR Initiative Hurt Firms?
At first instance, the latest HMLR dealing with lender policy seems like a helpful initiative. Don’t be fooled though: there is a sting in the tail. HM Land Registry has recently initiated the provision of direct access to application data for lenders. This access allows them to view the status of all mortgage security registration…
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CQS Dealing with Lenders Policy – What’s the Point?
The primary objective of a Dealing with Lenders Policy is to make it clear that when acting on a purchase or remortgage, the lender is just as much your client as the borrower. Therefore, one has a professional duty to follow their instructions. This is reinforced in the 2022 CQS Core Pratice Managment Standards. When…
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The Pandemic Induced Panel Cull
Research by a peer to peer lending platform Sourced Capital has found that the UK property market could see a double-digit rate of property value decline, with the market taking over five years to recover, while the number of property repossessions could also soar as a result of a COVID-19 induced recession. It is too…