OpenConvey believes that lenders will see the action of the Co-op as an opportunity to follow suit and intermediaries will have to look elsewhere for the personal service they have received from the sole practitioners they have recommended to clients.
Steve Maine, managing director of OpenConvey, commented, “The Co-op’s action could well be just the opening salvo by lenders against sole practitioners on their panels. The impact on intermediaries and their clients, who have benefited from the great service they receive from sole practitioners with whom they may have worked for years, could be severe. To maintain the relationship could mean that clients have to pay the lender’s solicitor as well which is not in their interests. There is a sea change taking place here.
“Understandably, lenders are concerned about fraud and tightening up their procedures but sole practitioners are being picked on as a result. Intermediaries will need to look for solicitor practices which can offer the same type of personal service, probably based in their region or locally, but with access to online systems which many sole practitioners might not have but which can lead to a faster service as well.”
