SPG opposes policies of a minority of lenders who do not allow SPs to act for the borrower and the lender. The Council of Mortgage Lenders has noted the Law Society’s position, namely that anti SP policies are discriminatory. SPG has had considerable success in convincing the majority of lenders to accept SPs and will continue it's campaign. There are some lenders, mainly small ones , who still remain unconvinced. Their argument is that the Compensation Fund does not guarantee sufficient redress if an SP is dishonest or fails. Whilst strictly this is correct , our argument is that there are insignificant losses made by lenders in SP default cases to outweigh the commercial and choice advantages to customers in instructing the solicitors of their choice.
SPG contact on anti-SP matters is Ian Lithman of Lithman & Co, 72 Wimpole Street, London W1M 7DD.
