Astra Mortgages Conveyancing Panel Information

The information on this page is designed to keep solicitors and licensed conveyancers abreast of latest requirements changes by Astra Mortgages and to assist in remaining on the Astra Mortgages Conveyancing Panel.

Looking for information about your firm's panel status?

How does my firm apply to be on the Astra Mortgages Conveyancing Panel?

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How can my firm be reinstated onto the Astra Mortgages Conveyancing Panel?

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Astra Mortgages Conveyancing Panel Information:

What are the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel arrangements?

Unlike the CML the Building Society Mortgage Instructions deal with this. Section A.12 states ‘In order to act on our behalf your firm or company must be a member of our conveyancing panel provided we are a society that operates one – see specific requirements for details of our arrangements. The Special Requirements state:

To be a member of our conveyancing panel you must be CQS accredited, must have submitted an application form, be registered on www.lawsociety.org, produced your current Practising Certificate together with evidence of professional indemnity insurance cover for a minimum of £2m (£3m if the firm is a Limited Liability Partnership or a company). Any panel application is subject to individual assessment and approval.

You must also comply with the terms and conditions of your Astra Mortgages solicitor panel appointment.

Does the fact that my firm has signed up to LENDERmonitor Alerts assist in my application to join the Astra Mortgages solicitor panel?

The requirements to join the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel is likely to be fairly detailed and is unlikely to include signing up to LENDERmonitor alerts.

Will the fact that my practice subscribes to Alerts via this site assist in my application to join the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel?

The requirements to join the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel is likely to be fairly detailed and is unlikely to include signing up to LENDERmonitor alerts.

A recent SRA survey reveals that three quarters of solicitors have been removed or threatened with removal from a lender conveyancing panel. Astra Mortgages and other building societies have restricted their panel over the years. Why?

The feeling from lenders generally (we can not speak for Astra Mortgages specifically), is that for too long solicitors have concentrated on their duty of care to their purchasing client, and have paid scant attention to the duty they owe to the lender, whom they conveniently forget is also their client.

Looking from the lenders’ perspective, it has to be said that there are pressures to encourage smaller panels. The Financial Services Authority regards the open panel system as a major contributor to mortgage fraud and negligence cases, and has been leaning on lenders to move to proactive panel management, which is more expensive the larger the panel. Hence it is becoming more common for lenders to charge fees, and/or require extensive form-filling, from would-be panel members

Astra Mortgages and other BSA lenders are in varying stages of reviewing their approach to vetting firms on their conveyancing panels, to ensure their ongoing exposure to unsuitable firms is reduced.

What information is available via COMPLETIONmonitor to assist my appeal to be reinstated on the Astra Mortgages solicitor panel?

There are many reports available but examples include:

Average time frame to register charges at the Land Registry
Average time frame to send deeds to the lender (calculated from completion date or title registration)
Number of conveyancing cases by lender
The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (broken down into sale)
Average mortgage advance
Buy to Let transactions
Notification to Lender analysis indicating frequency and nature of disclosures - to include benchmarking analysis against aggregate data
Evidence of undertaking logs
Current and historic missed priority dates
Analysis as to the nature of clients (e.g. existing client )

My firm is on the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel. I am dealing with Astra Mortgages mortgage on a purchase. My borrower client is asking not to disclose an issue to Astra Mortgages. What do I do in this conflict situation?

When a solicitor is acting for both Astra Mortgages and borrower there is potential for conflicts to arise. You owe duties to both clients. All information received by you from your client is confidential and cannot be disclosed without the client’s consent.

In your situation, if the purchaser will not consent to the information being passed on to the lender, the solicitor must cease to act for Astra Mortgages and it may well be prudent for you to cease to act for the purchaser as well. You must not inform Astra Mortgages of the reason for termination of the retainer over and above the fact that a conflict has arisen. The fact that you can no longer act should alert even the most somnambulistic of lenders that something is wrong with the borrower and/or purchase. The fact that you have disinstructed yourself should not affect your Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel status.

Can the BSA assist me in an appeal having not been accepted onto the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel?

If you have not been accepted or indeed been removed from the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel then the BSA will not have any part to play in influencing Astra Mortgages in changing their mind. Please contact us here at Lexsure so that we can put you in touch with a consultant who may be able to assist. At the very least it’s worth a call to us.

What lender panels do you receive the most questions about?

BSA lenders do not come within the top 20 lenders in terms of frequency of questions. The most popular lender panels in terms of questions are as follows:

Find a Lawyer on the Astra Mortgages Conveyancing Panel

Average number of days to register title including a charge in favour of Astra Mortgages

This information relates to purchase only and not remortgages.

Year	Days*
2025	[no data]
2024	[no data]
2023	[no data]
2022	[no data]
2021	[no data]
2020	[no data]

* Data aggregated from sources including COMPLETIONmonitor

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Please note that Lexsure Ltd is in no way associated with nor affiliated with Lexsure Solicitors