St James Place 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 PI insurers. COMPLETIONmonitor is a unique risk mitigation tool.

This system facilitates the way you can prove to lender panels that you are, and can remain fully compliant with their instructions, with automatic updates on St James Place’s changes. Notwithstanding that using the tool is not a prerequisite for St James Place , demonstrating you can stay up to date with St James Place’s Handbook requirements is an excellent support to your panel application and, more importantly, protect your firm’s panel status.

The software generates real-time alerts, automatically produces regulatory and CQS reports, and will improve your firm's efficiency. It is also user friendly, cost-effective and, for some firms, leads to reduced PII premiums.

Find a Law Firm approved by St James Place

Lenders frequently change their requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements from St James Place 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 2008, St James Place has made 29 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the CML Handbook.
That equates to a section change every 94.1 days. In total, 12% of the sections of P2 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for St James Place have been changed since 15/12/2008.

To find out more about lender panel compliance,

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Examples of recent questions relating to the St James Place Conveyancing Panel from members of the public

My Conveyancer is not on the St James Place Solicitor Panel. Can I still continue with my family solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the St James Place approved list?
You have a number of options available to you here:
  1. Carry on with your preferred solicitors but St James Place will need to instruct a lawyer on the St James Place conveyancing panel. This will result in additional cost and potential delay.
  2. Get a new solicitor to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are on the St James Place conveyancing panel.
  3. Convince your lawyer to do everything within their powers to join the St James Place conveyancing panel
Can you clarify something for me?. For no fault of my lawyer but, the conveyancing for my house purchase has been going on for months. The Local Authority Search from St James Place was date stamped random date and we have agreed a date for me to move into the property on Tues etc. My solicitor informs me that as she is on the St James Place conveyancing panel she needs to reorder the searches as they are no longer valid.
One of the many conditions to being on the St James Place approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook Part 2 obligations (last updated for this lender on St James Place)which specifies that a local authority search be not more than 6 months old. You should nevertheless ask your lawyer to check whether something called ‘search validation’ indemnity insurance is acceptable to St James Place.
I need to find a St James Place panel solicitor in Stirling. Can you assist?
It is not clear why you need a St James Place panel solicitor but in any event, if you can not find one on our search tool you will need to speak directly to St James Place to find out which solicitors in St James Place are on their panel. If you do find such a firm not listed please direct them to our site to list. After all the cost is only one £1 a month
I am buying a new build flat and getting a mortgage with St James Place. How practical is it for me to do the conveyancing?
Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing you will have to appoint a solicitor on the St James Place conveyancing panel to look after their interests. Most people therefore find it easier to let the solicitor act for them and the lender. Furthermore there is minimal cost savings to made in you doing to conveyancing for yourself and another lawyer conducting the conveyancing for the lender. Please feel free to use the search tool to find a lawyer on the St James Place conveyancing panel in your location.
Are all Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the St James Place conveyancing panel?
Some major banks and building societies now use the accreditation scheme as the starting point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS accreditation however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for firms wishing to join their panels.
Intending to buy a house with a mortgage with St James Place. I have received an online quote from a licensed conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the St James Place conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.
They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that they are on the St James Place conveyancing panel
I was told four weeks ago that my mortgage has been agreed to by St James Place. Is it usual for St James Place to only issue the offer once my solicitor is approved on their conveyancing panel?
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 St James Place to deal with your lawyers application to be on the St James Place conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitors will be accepted.