First conveyancers suffered when lenders struck many firms off their panels. Then Santander announce they are inviting new members or firms previously removed to join its residential mortgages panel for a fee of £199 and existing members are required to pay an annual fee of £99.
Finally, last week one of our firms received notice from a lender stating that they will no longer allow separate representation whereby 'non-panel' firms have entered into specific referral arrangements with Panel firms.
In these instances lenders are asking that non-panel firms or their clients contact them and they will appoint a solicitor to act on their behalf. We have had similar notices from other lenders and expect that more will follow suit.
For conveyancing practices this will be another worrying change in the market place, as lenders appear to have an ever increasing influence on which firms clients can use for their property purchases.
