Chelsea Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

You will be aware of the trend in recent years for lenders such as Chelsea Building Society 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 Chelsea Building Society panel. The situation that you find yourself in is where your client’s purchaser has his/her own lawyer and Chelsea Building Society 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 Chelsea Building Society’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 Chelsea Building Society. You will no doubt be required to undertake directly to Chelsea Building Society’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 Chelsea Building Society conveyancing panel.

You have a number of obligations in this regard which you need to follow 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 Chelsea Building Society immediately. Second, 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 Chelsea Building Society’s mortgage offer are correct. If they are not, please let Chelsea Building Society know as soon as possible as it will be necessary for Chelsea Building Society to check with the valuer whether the valuation needs to be revised. Chelsea Building Society conveyancing panel solicitors are not expected to assume the role of valuer. Chelsea Building Society are simply trying to ensure that the valuer has valued the property based on correct information. (III) Chelsea Building Society 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. Chelsea Building Society recommend that, if we send a copy of a valuation report that Chelsea Building Society 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 Chelsea Building Society 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 Chelsea Building Society conveyancing panel

With banks and property lawyers working so closely with one another it is surprising that there has not been greater demand for the introduction of a bit of transparency regarding not just the figures for the Chelsea Building Society conveyancing panel but for all bank panel listings

15 consumers search for a property lawyer on the Chelsea Building Society panel each month in Hendon. The lenderpanel directory service team who will show you how your firm can be listed by those searching for conveyancing in Hendon.

Your insurance brokers are your best port of call to address this question. The chances are that on the basis that you have not been removed for fraud or negligence reasons that there will be little or no impact. The main reason why a firm would be removed off of a lender panel is due to low volume of conveyancing cases although there may be a number of criteria for Chelsea Building Society solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You would be advised to contact Chelsea Building Society to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook includes an individual question for lenders to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Chelsea Building Society in their Part 2’s state: Always remember to quote your Chelsea Building Society solicitors panel number.