Bank of Scotland Private Conveyancing Panel Information

The requirements to join the Bank of Scotland Private conveyancing panel is likely to be fairly detailed and is unlikely to include signing up to LENDERmonitor alerts.

You might expect Bank of Scotland Private via their Part Two obligations to address this but the Handbook is silent on deadlines to send deeds. You need to look at the Terms of Bank of Scotland Private’s Conveyancing Panel Appointment that you previously signed. For a number of banks these Terms include a provision along the following lines: ‘To keep us informed of the reasons for any delay in your being able to send the title deeds and documents we require to us within 3 months of completion or evidence of proof of registration within that period. (We will send reminders if the deeds have not been received but will not acknowledge receipt of deeds’ It is imperative to keep Bank of Scotland Private informed. Law firms can often compound their problems by not communicating with the lender when there is a delay or problem.

You will be aware of the trend in recent years for lenders such as Bank of Scotland Private to take a much more pro-active approach in relation to the management and make up of their conveyancer panels. The knock on effect of this is that it is more likely that there will be a higher number of cases where a conveyancer is not on the Bank of Scotland Private panel. The situation that you find yourself in is where your client’s purchaser has his/her own lawyer and Bank of Scotland Private have appointed a separate lawyer to act on their behalf where the new CML Part 3 requirements apply. Section 11.1 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Part 3 requires Bank of Scotland Private’s panel solicitor to ‘ ...transfer the mortgage advance directly to the Seller’s conveyancer. The Seller’s conveyancer must be required to hold the mortgage advance on the terms of the required undertaking. The example borrower’s conveyancer’s undertaking letter includes a specific example of the seller’s undertaking’. You should expect to be advised to received the mortgage advance directly from the conveyancing solicitors for Bank of Scotland Private. You will no doubt be required to undertake directly to Bank of Scotland Private’s solicitors to discharge any charges secured on the property and to send directly to them the executed transfer and any other documents required to enable us to effect registration. Please remember to carefully consider undertakings in accordance with your firm’s protocol and record them in your undertakings logg. Please remember that as well as this breach of this undertaking having regulatory and compliance implications it’s breach could also result in your firm being removed off the Bank of Scotland Private conveyancing panel.

You have a number of obligations in this regard which are to followed if you wish to comply with your lender client’s instructions as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. First, You must take reasonable steps to verify that there are no discrepancies between the description of the property as valued and the title and other documents which a reasonably competent conveyancer should obtain, and, if there are, you must tell Bank of Scotland Private immediately. (b) You should take reasonable steps to verify that the assumptions stated by the valuer about the title (for example, its tenure, easements, boundaries and restrictions on its use) in the valuation and as stated in Bank of Scotland Private’s mortgage offer are correct. If they are not, please let Bank of Scotland Private know as soon as possible as it will be necessary for Bank of Scotland Private to check with the valuer whether the valuation needs to be revised. Bank of Scotland Private conveyancing panel solicitors are not expected to assume the role of valuer. Bank of Scotland Private are simply trying to ensure that the valuer has valued the property based on correct information. Thirdly, Bank of Scotland Private recommend that you should advise the borrower that there may be defects in the property which are not revealed by the inspection carried out by their valuer and there may be omissions or inaccuracies in the report which do not matter to them as a lender but which would matter to the borrower. Bank of Scotland Private recommend that, if we send a copy of a valuation report that Bank of Scotland Private have obtained, you should also advise the borrower that the borrower should not rely on the report in deciding whether to proceed with the purchase and that he obtains his own more detailed report on the condition and value of the property, based on a fuller inspection such as a homebuyers report or structural survey. If you do not receive a copy of the valuation you can always ask for a copy of one from Bank of Scotland Private or the borrower. You still need to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Requirement relating to valuation reports even if you don't receive one directly. Failure to comply not only runs the risk of facing a claim by the lender but also being removed from the Bank of Scotland Private conveyancing panel

It would be advisable to provide details of the date of removal, information on the reason for removal, date of appeal and any reason given for reinstatement. This should not negatively affect your firm’s application but gives the Law Society viability as to what has occured.

You should get in touch with Bank of Scotland Private to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook contains an individual inquiry for lenders to cite who to contact to obtain standard documents. Bank of Scotland Private in their Part 2’s state: Always remember to quote your Bank of Scotland Private conveyancing panel number.