Surrey HSBC-free zone

HSBC’s decision to slash its conveyancing panel from thousands of firms across England and Wales to just 43 firms has left the county of Surrey bereft of representation.

According to law firm Hart Brown, the new panel does not include a single firm of solicitors from Surrey. Consequently, it warns, consumers may need to make a long journey if they wish to have a face-to-face meeting with their solicitor, may incur additional expense if they need to have forms witnessed by a solicitor, and will miss the benefits of local knowledge and additional advice on specialist areas such as inheritance tax planning.

David Knapp, partner at Hart Brown, says: “How can these 43 firms possibly offer the same breadth of experience, knowledge, and quality of service for consumers, when thousands of firms were managing this same workload up until a month ago?

“There are many individuals who prefer to use the same solicitor to handle all their personal affairs, yet HSBC’s approach undermines that choice by making this option more expensive than it needs to be.”

HSBC announced its new panel last month. The Law Society is campaigning against the decision and is in talks with the bank. An appeals process is in place for law firms whose application to join the panel has been rejected.

Victor Olowe, chief executive of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, has expressed concerns “that such a limited size panel risks inadvertently restricting consumer choice and distorting competition in the conveyancing market” and is calling on all lenders to “put consumer choice, transparency and fairness first”.