The Mortgage Works Conveyancing Lender Panel Compliance Tool

Lexsure’s COMPLETIONmonitor is web-based pre- and post-completion checklist for residential conveyancing lawyers. Supported by the CML and PI insurers such as AmTrust. It is a unique risk management tool.

This system facilitates the way you can prove to lender panels that you are, and can stay fully compliant with their instructions, with notifications given on The Mortgage Works’s changes. While using the tool is not a prerequisite for The Mortgage Works , demonstrating you can stay up to date with The Mortgage Works’s Handbook requirements is an excellent support to your application to their lender panel and, just as importantly, protect your panel status.

COMPLETIONmonitor generates real-time alerts, automatically produces SRA 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 The Mortgage Works

Banks and building societies frequently change their requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements from The Mortgage Works 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 Works has made 312 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the CML Handbook.
That equates to a section change every 8.8 days. In total, 63% of the sections of P2 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for The Mortgage Works have been changed since 15/12/2008.

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FAQs for the The Mortgage Works Solicitor Panel from members of the public

I am selling my maisonette and the estate agent has just texted me to advise that the purchasers are changing their law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that The Mortgage Works will only work with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a big named lender only deal with specific lawyers?
Banks have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as HSBC, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for decades.

Lenders point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been tightened and a smaller panel should be easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is being contacted daily by practices that have been removed from panels, or have other concerns about them. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyer’s case. Your purchasers are unlikely to have any sway in the decision.

can you help? My lawyer is assuring me that he is legally obliged to order a Local Authority search because the firm are on the The Mortgage Works solicitor panel. Is my lawyer correct?
Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. As you are taking a mortgage with The Mortgage Works 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 The Mortgage Works’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook requirements last updated The Mortgage Works. even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out a local authority search.
I have been looking for conveyancing quotes online. Can I be confident that all the practices that are listed on your site are on the The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel?
The solicitor and licensed conveyancing practices on our directory have assured us via an online form that they are on the The Mortgage Works panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the The Mortgage Works panel. To date we have not been informed by either a mortgage company or a member of the public that the data about a specific firm being on the The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel is incorrect.
My grandfather passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor was left the house. The house had a small mortgage remaining of approximately £4500. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to The Mortgage Works , pay off the mortgage etc. Is this allowed?
If you intend to re-mortgage then The Mortgage Works will insist on your using a conveyancer on the The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the The Mortgage Works mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
is it true that all solicitors on the The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel overseen by the SRA?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Many lenders do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers (CLC).
I have paid off my mortgage with The Mortgage Works. I assume I don't need a solicitor on the The Mortgage Works panel to remove the mortgage at the Land Registry. Am I right?
If you have finished paying off your The Mortgage Works 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 The Mortgage Works mortgage from the register. The Mortgage Works,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 The Mortgage Works has sent the Land Registry the discharge electronically, and the The Mortgage Works has instructed the Land Registry to do so The Land Registry will send you a letter confirming that your The Mortgage Works mortgage has been paid off.
It is not clear whether my mortgage offer obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date . I have telephoned The Mortgage Works on numerous occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they would lend. My solicitor - who is on the The Mortgage Works conveyancing panel- telephoned and was told not they would not lend in accordance with their CML Handbook minimum lease term requirements. I simply dont know who is right
Your lawyer has to follow the CML Handbook Part 2 requirements for The Mortgage Works. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that The Mortgage Works will go ahead your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask The Mortgage Works to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the remaining number of years left on the lease.