UK Conveyancing Firms Threatened by Banks

Small conveyancing firms, which account for the vast majority of UK law firms (85%) are at risk of going bankrupt as high street lenders such as Lloyds, Santander and several other building societies are removing them from conveyancing panels.

Earlier, borrowers were free to choose the law firm from the lender's conveyancing panel when purchasing a new house. They only had to pay for the services once, whereas today they will have to pay twice should they turn to a small conveyancing firm that is not on the lender's list.

Law firms claim that borrowers will be reluctant to do so and, thus, will only use the services of those conveyancing agencies approved by banks and building societies.

The fact that largest UK banks (Lloyds, for instance, holds 33% of the British mortgage market) are removing small firms from their panels means that they might lose their bread-and-butter work. According to the statistics of the Law Society, as many as 2,500 firms are already at risk of disappearance.