Stephen Smith

Legal & General

The trend in recent years seems to have been that many of the more switched on estate agencies and mortgage broking firms have put in place their own conveyancing arrangements. This then meant that they could both provide a good service for their clients, and generate an income for themselves from the referral fees.

Therefore, the offer of any new arrangement by a lender needs to be very sensitive to these existing arrangements. Lenders who aim to develop a service such as this would need to ensure that cross-selling is policed in the same way that the sale of mortgage-related insurance is currently policed.

Sally Laker

Mortgage Intelligence

This development is a sign of the times post-regulation – new ideas to generate additional income and change the status quo. This initiative will give lenders like the Halifax access to clients that do not necessarily have an HBOS mortgage.

However, on taking this to the broker market it may need to convince them that there is no intention to cross sell and that the service will be reliable. We still need to undergo a mind-set change that you can sell an HBOS conveyancing product with an Abbey mortgage.

Although more lenders are starting to think about these opportunities in different markets, it is still a big change. The biggest hurdle is the local relationship with a friendly solicitor that works on a referral basis, and this is more than income, this is service with a capital ‘S’.

The broker knows he can chase things up if there is a problem and that is key. Another thing to consider however, would be those mortgage products which have a free legal package included within them, applicants for these products would not be able to use an alternative service.

Andrew Frankish

Mortgage Talk

These days, conveyancing is seen as more of a routine procedure rather than a professional service. This is certainly a fact that is strongly reflected in the prices for legal services. Most of the larger mortgage brokers will already have an alliance with their own preferred conveyancing suppliers, and so it seems a logical next stage for the bigger lenders to do the same.

By entering into this market, the Halifax is using its brand and reputation to leverage broker recommendations away from existing suppliers, as well as trying to attract end-user homebuyers swayed by its reputation. However, the problem will be who will want to use Halifax’s conveyancing service if, for example, they are buying with an Alliance & Leicester mortgage?

My personal take on this is that the Halifax is being very forward-thinking. Not only is it using the conveyancing service as a way to enhance customer loyalty towards its range of mortgage products, but it is also paving the way for the introduction of sellers’ home information packs. Ultimately, it seems that the lender’s aim will be to offer a one-stop service that gives borrowers no excuse to go elsewhere. In line with this, the conveyancing service is just another way to tie in borrowers.

Carla Lavender

BM Solutions

Any service that adds value to the mortgage chain can only be good news for all concerned. The intermediary market should embrace new valued-added services such as the Halifax conveyancing service. Services such as this offer competitive alternatives for brokers and consumers alike.

The benefits for brokers should far outweigh concerns that companies would use the services as an opportunity to cross-sell to clients. In reality there is very little to suggest that organisations would do this, as without the backing of brokers, such services would be limited.

Brokers can really benefit from offering a fixed fee service such as this, as it means they have even more flexibility in helping them to provide an efficient service, tailored to their client’s needs. This in turn reflects favourably on brokers’ reputation, and will have a direct effect on areas such as leads and client retention.

Sue Cox

Bananas Inc

You can understand brokers for not welcoming this move with open arms. Conveyancing referrals often form an income stream for brokers. So by going down this route, large lenders will be depriving some of their broker partners of a valuable source of income.

Additionally, it is worth questioning whether mortgage applicants who choose, for example, a Halifax mortgage and the Halifax conveyancing service will be given preferential treatment over applicants who choose to use their own conveyancer. Having a tied service like this often means that those who do not use the tied service – in this case conveyancing – do not get as good a service as those that do.

The advantage for the large lenders is obviously that they bring another profit opportunity in-house. I cannot really see much of an advantage from the intermediaries’ point of view.

After all, it is the broker who has introduced the client to the lender in the first place.

Any cross-selling opportunity that is taken by the lender is a profit opportunity that is lost by the intermediary.

Philip Perry

ARK Financial Planning

Most clients who are buying rather than remortgaging tend to prefer the one-on-one approach and usually have their own solicitor on hand to do the conveyancing work already.

Alternatively, when it comes to remortgaging, clients are usually looking for an entire package, including legal fees. Using a solicitor from the lender’s panel makes the process easier and relatively cleaner in most cases.

The only question I have would concern the incentive for Halifax. Surely such a service could only drive costs up for the borrower, especially as the Halifax is offering the service to any mortgage applicant, not just those for their own products.