The Mortgage Lender Conveyancing Lender Panel Compliance Tool

COMPLETIONmonitor is web-based pre- and post-completion checklist for property lawyers. Supported by the CML and professional indemnity insures. COMPLETIONmonitor is a unique risk mitigation tool.

This system is the only way you can prove to lender panels that you are, and can remain fully compliant with their requirements, with notifications given on The Mortgage Lender’s changes. While using the software is not a condition for acceptance on the The Mortgage Lender panel, demonstrating you can remain up to date with The Mortgage Lender’s Handbook requirements is a helpful support to your application to their lender panel and, more importantly, safeguard your firm’s panel status.

COMPLETIONmonitor generates real-time alerts, automatically produces COLP and CQS reports, and will improve your firm's efficiency. In addition it is user friendly, cost-effective and, for some firms, leads to reduced PII premiums.

Find a Law Firm approved by The Mortgage Lender

Lenders frequently change their requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements from The Mortgage Lender 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, The Mortgage Lender has made 210 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the CML Handbook.
That equates to a section change every 13.0 days. In total, 34% of the sections of P2 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for The Mortgage Lender have been changed since 15/12/2008.

To find out more about lender panel compliance,

Book a Personalised Demo

Recent Changes Include

# Date Assoc. Changes Related To
1.11a 25/01/2019 CML
General Mortgage Instructions
Contact details at The Mortgage Lender Limited for conveyancing panel lawyers to obtain mortgage documentation
16.5.3b 25/01/2019 CML
Deed of Rectification
Where do solicitors and conveyancers send the deed of rectification in relation to The Mortgage Lender Limited mortgages ?
5.13.1 25/01/2019 CML
Balance of Monies
Contact details at The Mortgage Lender Limited for conveyancing panel lawyers where borrower is not providing balance of purchase price from funds/proposing to give second charge.
Insolvency Act Indemnity Insurance Deed of Gift Indemnity Insurance
5.14.11 25/01/2019 CML
Leasehold Conveyancing
The Mortgage Lender Limited panel lawyers leasehold conveyancing requirements : acceptability of indemnity insurance where the terms of the lease are unsatisfactory
Defective Lease Indemnity Insurance
6.4.5 25/01/2019 CML
Full monies through the firm's account
Contact details at The Mortgage Lender Limited for approved lawyers were the law firm will not have control over the payment of all the purchase money.
6.6.3 27/04/2018 CML
Buy to Let Conveyancing
The Mortgage Lender Limited approved lawyers requirements concerning receiving counterpart/certified copy tenancy agreements
6.4.4 26/03/2018 CML
Disclosing Incentives
The Mortgage Lender Limited approved lawyers additional requirements concerning reporting incentives
14.2.1 31/01/2018 CML
Post Completion Conveyancing
Where should conveyancing panelfor The Mortgage Lender Limited send the title deeds and documents following completion?
16.3.2 14/12/2017 CML
Transfer of Equity
The Mortgage Lender Limited details for requesting debt amount
17.1.1 14/12/2017 CML
Redemption Statements
Contact details at The Mortgage Lender Limited for approved lawyers to request redemption statements .

Last update 15/11/2019

FAQs for the The Mortgage Lender Conveyancing Panel from members of the public

My wife and I are first time buyers. Within the 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to sign with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. The Mortgage Lender have this evening contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
If you are buying a property with the assistance of a mortgage it is usual for the purchaser's solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender.

In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme. Your property lawyers should contact The Mortgage Lender and see if they can apply for membership of the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable The Mortgage Lender will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.

My solicitor has spotted a difference when comparing the assumptions in The Mortgage Lender’s valuation survey and what is revealed within the title deeds. My lawyer says that as he is on the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel he needs to check that the bank is with this discrepancy and is still content to lend. Is my solicitor’s course or action appropriate?
A precondition to being on the The Mortgage Lender approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on The Mortgage Lender) 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 you.
I am Googling for competitive conveyancing fees. Can I be confident that all the practices that are identified on your directory are on the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel?
The solicitor and licensed conveyancing practices on our directory have advised us that they are on the The Mortgage Lender panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the The Mortgage Lender panel. To date we have not been informed by either a bank or a member of the public that the data about a specific firm being on the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel is incorrect.
I am buying a garden flat and getting a mortgage with The Mortgage Lender. Conveyancing solicitors are said to be ‘a necessary evil’ but can I do it myself?
Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing you will have to appoint a solicitor on the The Mortgage Lender 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 The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel in your location.
We have agreed to purchase a house.One unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. The Mortgage Lender have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
Given that you are obtaining a mortgage with The Mortgage Lender your lawyer must to check the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing instructions contained in the Part of CML Handbook for The Mortgage Lender . The CML Handbook contains minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to The Mortgage Lender 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 recently had an offer accepted on a house. My mortgage broker suggested a solicitor I paid an upfront payment of 150. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me to say that they were not on the The Mortgage Lender 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 The Mortgage Lender 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.
I am selling my apartment. I had a double glazing fitted in month 2010 but did not receive a FENSA certificate or Building Regulation Certificate. My purchaser’s mortgage company, The Mortgage Lender are being difficult. The solicitor who is on the The Mortgage Lender conveyancing panel is happy to accept ‘lack of building regulation’ insurance but The Mortgage Lender are insisting on a building regulation certificate. Why do The Mortgage Lender have a conveyancing panel of they don’t accept advice from them?
It is probably the case that The Mortgage Lender have referred the matter to their valuer. The reason why The Mortgage Lender may not want to accept indemnity insurance is because it does not give them any reassurance that the double glazing correctly and safely installed. It merely protects against enforcement action which is very unlikely anyway.