The Law Society is calling upon solicitors to provide evidence in relation to lenders and separate representation.

The Society states that one of the effects of the lenders rationalising their panels has been to cause a small increase in the number of cases where borrowers want to use their own solicitor rather than use the same one as the lender. It has become aware of a number of cases where it seems that the lender has not allowed a client to use their solicitor of choice, or a non-panel solicitor or has not been allowed to use their preferred panel solicitor but one chosen by the lender.

The Law Society would like to gather further information and examples of such instances and to use these in their negotiations with individual lenders and the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The more examples they have, the less easy it will be for their concerns to be dismissed.

To let the Society know about your experiences, email evidence@lawsociety.org.uk. ensuring that the following details are included:

• name of lender;
• if you have been removed from that lender’s panel the reason they gave you (for example low transaction volume);
• the type of transaction (eg mortgage, re-mortgage);
• the impact on the client (eg delay, inconvenience transaction could not go ahead, client could not get the same deal from the lender);
• at what stage this decision was communicated, by whom (eg a mortgage broker, representative of the lender) and how; and
• whether your case study can be passed to the lender with details of your firm or should be anonymised (client details will automatically be removed).