Nationwide has informed the Law Society that it will be
suspending legal practices from its lending panel based on the
number of annual transactions the practice has performed for
Nationwide in the last year. Firms (not offices) who have
undertaken fewer than four transactions for the building society
will receive a letter from Nationwide informing them of their
suspension from its panel.
Nationwide has put in place an appeals process so that firms
will be able to appeal if they are suspended from the panel. In
order to appeal, firms must be members of the Conveyancing Quality
Scheme (CQS) and demonstrate one of the following grounds:
- That nationwide transaction numbers are unrepresentative of a
firm's conveyancing activity; or
- That while the firm's transaction volumes are low, the firm
meets a particular need that is important for the local or national
market to retain.
A similar approach is being applied to licensed conveyancers and
also in other jurisdictions including Scotland and Northern
Ireland.
To avoid areas being left without firms nearby, Nationwide has
conducted a mapping exercise to avoid this happening.
Nationwide are also undertaking a data collection exercise
involving all panel firms to ensure that their records are accurate
and complete. An online facility has been established to enable
firms to upload electronically the information they will be
requested to provide.
The Law Society believes that transaction numbers are a blunt
tool for cutting panel numbers and believe a more sensible solution
would be for lenders, collectively, to work with the Law Society
and use the Conveyancing Quality Scheme as the basis of a data
sharing solution for lenders. This would help to avoid legal
practices that have membership on a number of panels from
duplicating information on a lender by lender basis.
Long term, Nationwide has said that it would like to reopen its
lender panel membership and that CQS would be a requirement for new
firms applying to join.