Mortgage Agency Services Conveyancing Lender Panel Compliance Tool

Lexsure’s COMPLETIONmonitor is an online pre- and post-completion checklist for property lawyers. Supported by the CML and PI insurers. COMPLETIONmonitor is a unique risk mitigation tool.

This software is the only way you can prove to lender panels that you are, and can remain fully compliant with their instructions, with automatic updates on Mortgage Agency Services’s changes. Even though using this technology is not a condition for acceptance on the Mortgage Agency Services panel, demonstrating you can remain up to date with Mortgage Agency Services’s Handbook requirements is an excellent support to your panel application and, more importantly, safeguard your panel standing.

COMPLETIONmonitor creates real-time alerts, automatically produces regulatory and CQS reports, and will increase your firm's efficiency. It is also simply to use, cost-effective and, for some firms, leads to a PII saving.

Find a Law Firm approved by Mortgage Agency Services

Mortgage companies often change their requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements from Mortgage Agency Services 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, Mortgage Agency Services has made 27 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the CML Handbook.
That equates to a section change every 101.1 days. In total, 10% of the sections of P2 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Mortgage Agency Services have been changed since 15/12/2008.

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Recent Changes Include

# Date Assoc. Changes Related To
6.7.1 15/11/2019 CML
New Build Conveyancing
Mortgage Agency Services approved conveyancer requirements for New Build Conveyancing : Home Warranty Schemes
5.14.9 28/06/2019 CML
Leasehold Conveyancing
Contact details at Mortgage Agency Services for approved lawyers for matters relating to the lease.
3.1.4 01/12/2014 CML
details of the seller's solicitors or licensed conveyancers
3.1.6 01/12/2014 CML
verification of identity
5.5.1a 01/12/2014 CML
requirements in terms of time for planning consents
6.14.1b 01/12/2014 CML
buildings insurance in joint names or lender interest noted
6.14.4 01/12/2014 CML
sending a copy of the buildings insurance policy and last premium
3.1.3 01/12/2014 CML
Conveyancing Solicitors Details for Sellers
Do Mortgage Agency Services require notification form their panel lawyer of the name and address of the solicitors firm or licensed conveyancers firm acting for the seller?
17.2.1b 12/07/2013 CML
Evidence of Discharge of Mortgage
Do Mortgage Agency Services send the discharge via a DS 1 form or direct with the Land Registry?
14.1.5 29/04/2013 CML
Post Completion Conveyancing
Does the Mortgage Agency Services need to be sent the original mortgage deed and/or any other original title documents by their conveyancing panel ?

Last update 17/01/2020

Mortgage Agency Services Conveyancing Panel : Questions and Answers from members of the public

What is the rationale as to why all solicitors are not on the Mortgage Agency Services Conveyancing panel?
Before the recession most lenders had an appetite for risk which was higher than today. The Financial Services Authority in 2010 conducted a thematic review into mortgage fraud which concluded: know the conveyancing solicitors that you are dealing with. Consequently, lenders have regularly sought more information from law firms about their operations and the individuals who work for them and set certain criteria such a completing on a minimum number of transactions. Many firms that have been excluded from lender panels have 100% healthy track record, no complaints and no claims and didn't just 'dabble' in conveyancing. Such firms were never going to meet the criteria of volume of transactions the lenders required.
My solicitor has discovered an inconsistency between the surveyor’s assumptions in Mortgage Agency Services’s valuation survey and what is revealed within the title deeds. My solicitor informs me that as he is on the Mortgage Agency Services conveyancing panel he needs to ensure that the bank is OK with this discrepancy and is still content to lend. Is my conveyancer’s approach legitimate?
A precondition to being on the Mortgage Agency Services approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Mortgage Agency Services) which do require that your lawyer disclose any incorrect assumptions in the lender’s valuation report and the legal papers. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for both parties.
Do all mortgage companies provide you with an approved list of solicitors? How do you know who is on the Mortgage Agency Services conveyancing panel?
The firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Mortgage Agency Services conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Mortgage Agency Services directly.
The firm that I appointed last week on my purchase in Hendon has suddenly closed. They were on acting for me because I needed a lawyer on the Mortgage Agency Services conveyancing panel and my previous lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £175 for searches. What do I do now?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Mortgage Agency Services 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 lawyers should be in a position to assist
I am buying a property where the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender Mortgage Agency Services be concerned
As your lender is Mortgage Agency Services your lawyer must to check the Mortgage Agency Services conveyancing instructions contained in the Part of CML Handbook for Mortgage Agency Services . The CML Handbook contains minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to Mortgage Agency Services where a lease does not meet these requirements. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales. Requirements for Scotland are due in the near future.
I currently have a mortgage with with Mortgage Agency Services. Conveyancing was finalised some time ago. In the event that I decide to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Mortgage Agency Services?
Your original mortgage agreement with Mortgage Agency Services will provide that you need their approval before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Mortgage Agency Services’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Mortgage Agency Services will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Mortgage Agency Services directly. You need not do this via a Mortgage Agency Services conveyancing panel solicitor.
My brother and I are taking a long lease of a house in Hendon. Conveyancing solicitors in Hendon will soon begiven the go-ahead. My brokerrecommended that we check that the conveyancer in Hendon is on the Mortgage Agency Services approved list of lawyers. Is this really necessary?
It is not that case that all Hendon conveyancing solicitors are on the Mortgage Agency Services conveyancing panel. 7 people a month use our search tool to search for a Hendon conveyancing firm on the on the Mortgage Agency Services panel.