Banks and Clients Conveyancing Lender Panel Compliance Tool

COMPLETIONmonitor is web-based pre- and post-completion checklist for residential conveyancing lawyers. Supported by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and PI insurers such as AmTrust. COMPLETIONmonitor is a unique risk management tool.

This software assists the way you can demonstrate to lender panels that you are, and can remain fully compliant with their requirements, with alerts on Banks and Clients’s changes. Even though using COMPLETIONmonitor is not a condition for acceptance on the Banks and Clients panel, demonstrating you can stay up to date with Banks and Clients’s Handbook requirements is a helpful support to your application to their lender panel and, just as importantly, protect your firm’s panel standing.

The software generates real-time alerts, automatically produces SRA and CQS reports, and will increase your firm's efficiency. In addition it is simply to use, cost-effective and, for many firms, leads to a PII saving.

Find a Law Firm approved by Banks and Clients

Lenders frequently change their requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements from Banks and Clients are not guidelines, they are instructions from a client. As with many clients, instructions can change - and they do change, over time:

A Timeline of Policy Changes


Since 2008, Banks and Clients has made 1 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the CML Handbook.
That equates to a section change every 2730.0 days. In total, 0% of the sections of P2 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Banks and Clients have been changed since 15/12/2008.

To find out more about lender panel compliance,

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Recent Changes Include

# Date Assoc. Changes Related To
6.14.1 30/11/2015 CML
Building Insurance
Banks and Clients plc panel lawyers additional requirements concerning building insurance

Last update 15/01/2020

FAQs : The Banks and Clients Conveyancing Panel from members of the public

My IFA has says he needs my solicitor’s panel reference for the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel. What is the best way to discover this. I have e-mailed my local Banks and Clients office but they have not got back to me yet.
Have you tried speaking to your lawyer about this?. They should have a central record lender panel numbers including the Banks and Clients panel reference.
Please assist. My lawyer is not to blame but, the conveyancing for my house purchase has been going on for months. The Local Authority Search from Banks and Clients was dated random date and we have agreed a date for me to move into the property on 6. My solicitor says that as she is on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel she needs to reorder the searches as they are no longer acceptable to the lender.
One of the many conditions to being on the Banks and Clients approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook Part 2 obligations (last updated for this lender on Banks and Clients)which states that a local authority search be not more than half a year old. You should nevertheless ask your lawyer to check whether something called ‘search validation’ indemnity insurance is acceptable to Banks and Clients.
Do all the firms listed on your search have online case tracking as I was under the impression that this was a precondition of being on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel?
No. There is no CML Part 2 or Building Society Association requirement relating to online case tracking. Some law firms operate such technology and some don't.
Please explain the implications if my solicitor is removed from the Banks and Clients Conveyancing panel before the completion date?
The first thing to point out is that, this is a very rare occurrence. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have ti instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by the regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
The for formalities of my remortgage has taken place with a loan from Banks and Clients. Conveyancing was satisfactory but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about Banks and Clients. How do I make a complaint?
Most banks and building societies have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the Banks and Clients branches or the Customer Services Team at Banks and Clients head office. Ordinarily complaints to Banks and Clients are resolved effectively and efficiently. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is resolved you can write to the Financial Ombudsman Service at South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their lawyers I paid an upfront payment of 150. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Banks and Clients panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
My offer was accepted on a property on the 12th January 2014, valuation was booked 2 days after, all came back fine. Property lawyer instructed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Banks and Clients and chasing them on my offer I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel. Can the lender hold off the offer?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Banks and Clients to deal with your lawyers application to be on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitors will be accepted.