Together Personal Finance 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. It is a unique risk mitigation tool.

This software assists the way you can prove to lender panels that you are, and can stay fully compliant with their requirements, with notifications given on Together Personal Finance’s changes. Notwithstanding that utilising the software is not a condition for being on the Together Personal Finance panel, demonstrating you can stay up to date with Together Personal Finance’s Handbook requirements is a helpful support to your panel application and, more importantly, protect 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 a PII saving.

Find a Law Firm approved by Together Personal Finance

Lenders frequently change their requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements from Together Personal Finance 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


To find out more about lender panel compliance,

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Q and A’s regarding the Together Personal Finance Solicitor Panel from members of the public

I am progressing with the sale of my flat and the EA has just called to advise that the buyers are swapping law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that Together Personal Finance will only engage with property lawyers on their approved list. On what basis would a big named lender only work with certain solicitors?
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 Nationwide , have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 15 years.

Banks blame a rise 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 hearing daily from firms 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.

My conveyancer has discovered a difference between the surveyor’s assumptions in Together Personal Finance’s valuation report and what is in the title deeds. My lawyer has advised that as he is on the Together Personal Finance conveyancing panel he must check that the bank is with this discrepancy and is content go ahead. Is my solicitor’s stance appropriate?
A precondition to being on the Together Personal Finance approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Together Personal Finance) 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.
Are the lawyers identified as being on the Together Personal Finance conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Together Personal Finance?
The law firm practices themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Together Personal Finance conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Together Personal Finance directly.
My house is up for sale and I have a buyer. Does my solicitor have to be on the Together Personal Finance conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Together Personal Finance conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. it might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently at the moment.
I have decided to exercise my right to buy my property off the council. I have a mortgage agreed with Together Personal Finance. Conveyancing is new to me. Can I proceed without a solicitor easily? I think we can but we keep being told I should use one. Any advice?
It is not advisable proceed with a house purchase without a solicitor. The council's solicitor are not acting for you. You need a solicitor for a number reasons. One of which is to verify what plans the Council have for repairs and refurbishment for the next five years. Many leaseholders have been stung for contributions of thousands of pounds. In any event if you are getting a mortgage with Together Personal Finance you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Together Personal Finance conveyancing panel.
It is not clear whether my mortgage offer requires a lease extension . I have called into my local branch Together Personal Finance on various occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they would lend. My solicitor - who is on the Together Personal Finance conveyancing panel- telephoned and was told not they would not lend in accordance with their CML Handbook minimum lease term requirements. Who do I believe?
Your lawyer has to follow the CML Handbook Part 2 requirements for Together Personal Finance. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that Together Personal Finance 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 Together Personal Finance to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the remaining number of years left on the lease.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house. My mortgage broker suggested a solicitor I paid an upfront payment of 225. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me to say that they were not on the Together Personal Finance 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 Together Personal Finance 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.