Members will have seen the
announcement that, from August, HSBC will open up its Conveyancing Panel to all
members of the Law Society Quality Conveyancing Scheme. This represents a
significant climb down by the Bank which only a few weeks ago had, at a stroke,
gone from an open panel to one of less than 50 firms nationally.
Wolverhampton Law Society contributed to the pressure for change by raising the issue directly with the Bank at both national and local levels. Emphasising the damage that the arrangements were having on local relations the Society also had face-to-face meetings with Wolverhampton MPs to discuss the matter.
Commenting upon this development Council Member Andrew Lund said:-
“As a Council we felt that if HSBC got away with this then it would be the thin end of the wedge as other Lenders would doubtless have followed suit.
MPs were, in particular, swayed by our argument that HSBC
had indirectly benefited from the tax payer bail out of the banking sector and
that they would not have been in a position to flex their muscles in this way
had free market economics prevailed.
Another key factor was the reaction of Estate Agents. Having seen difficulties with HSBC funded parties causing Chains to break down some Agents had begun to advise their Clients to be wary about selling to an HSBC funded purchaser.
It would have been nice to get HSBC to climb down fully and revert to an open panel. However, I think that that was never going to be achieved. If Solicitors are serious about conveyancing then they really should get accredited under the Law Society Scheme which looks as though it is getting traction with the CML. Looking around Wolverhampton it is encouraging to see that a significant number of member Firms are early adopters of the Quality Conveyancing Scheme and I know that many are working towards membership.”
