Banks and Clients Conveyancing Lender Panel Compliance Tool

COMPLETIONmonitor is an online pre- and post-completion checklist for property lawyers. Supported by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and professional indemnity insures. COMPLETIONmonitor is a unique risk mitigation tool.

This system assists the way you can demonstrate to lender panels that you are, and can stay fully compliant with their instructions, with automatic updates on Banks and Clients’s changes. While using the tool is not a prerequisite for Banks and Clients , demonstrating you can stay up to date with Banks and Clients’s Handbook requirements is an excellent support to your application to their lender panel and, just as importantly, protect your panel standing.

The software creates real-time alerts, automatically produces compliance and CQS reports, and will enhance your firm's efficiency. It is also simply to use, cost-effective and, for some firms, results in reduced PII premiums.

Find a Law Firm approved by Banks and Clients

Banks and building societies frequently vary their requirements. The BSA instructions from Banks and Clients are not guidelines, they are instructions from a client. As with many clients, instructions can change - and they do change, frequently:

A Timeline of Policy Changes


Since 2010, Banks and Clients has made 1 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the BSA Requirements.
That equates to a section change every 2730.0 days. In total, 0% of the sections of the BSA Requirements for Banks and Clients have been changed since 26/1/2010.

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 approved lawyers additional requirements concerning building insurance

Last update 20/01/2019

Common questions asked concerning the Banks and Clients Solicitor Panel from members of the public

I would like to know the reason why all solicitors aren't included on the Banks and Clients Solicitor panel?
Mortgage companies point to the fact that solicitor-led fraud is thought to be responsible for millions of pounds of fraud every year. The removal of law firms off of lender panels started with the rise in mortgage fraud, which prompted a thematic review by the Financial Services Authority in 2011. Its outcome included recommendations for lenders to review their conveyancing panels, which kicked off a major policy change in the sector. It led to banks and building societies purging less reputable firms off their books
can you help? My solicitor is informing me me that he has to conduct a Local Authority search as the firm are on the Banks and Clients approved lawyer panel. Is my lawyer correct?
Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. Given that you are taking out a loan with Banks and Clients your lawyer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your lawyer would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of Banks and Clients’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook requirements last updated Banks and Clients. even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out a local authority search.
Do all the licensed conveyancers and solicitor practices listed on your directory have online case tracking as I was under the impression that this was a precondition of being on the Banks and Clients solicitor 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.
The solicitors that I recently instructed on my purchase in London has suddenly shut down. They were on acting for me because I needed a firm on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel and my family lawyer was not. I gave them a cheque for £150 in advance. What do I do now?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to assist
Can I be sure that the solicitor on the Banks and Clients panel is any good?
Getting recommendations is a good starting point. Before you go ahead check if they offer a no sale no fee offer. Also you often get what you pay for - a firm which quotes more will often provide a better service than one which is cheap as chips. We would always advise that you speak with the lawyer carrying out your conveyancing
I have paid off my mortgage with Banks and Clients. I assume I don't need a solicitor on the Banks and Clients panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Please confirm
If you have finished paying off your Banks and Clients mortgage they may send you evidence showing that you have paid it off. Alternatively they may notify the Land Registry directly. The Land Registry need to see this evidence before they will remove the Banks and Clients mortgage from the register. Banks and Clients,and any evidence they send you, will determine the action you need to take. In cases where no conveyancer is acting for you and you have paid off your mortgage: but are not moving to another property where the Banks and Clients has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and the Banks and Clients has instructed the Land Registry to do so The Land Registry will send you a letter confirming that your Banks and Clients mortgage has been paid off.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house. My mortgage broker suggested a solicitor I paid an upfront payment of 200. 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.