OpenConvey is warning that many lenders could follow the example of the Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) and remove sole practitioners from its panel.

The owner of the Britannia Building Society has followed through its threat of 5 October and axed 3,600 sole practitioners from its panel.

The online conveyancing referral portal 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, said: “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