Chelsea Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

Although not necessarily published, lenders have varying criteria . We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the Chelsea Building Society conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

purchase and remortgage)

Solicitor

House price discrepancies (declared to lender vs. registered at Land Registry)

Full career history for each solicitor including admission date to the relevant Law Society

Whether the firm has ever applied for accreditation and the outcome of the application

Details of any accreditation e.g. Lexcel or

Firm name, address and contact details including all branches (including evidence of existence through risk-based physical visits and Google Streetview checks)

Full complaints history for each licensed conveyancer

Whether the firm has ever accepted instructions in respect of property clubs and investment schemes

List of all solicitors within firm

Please tread carefully here as what you are suggesting may not be acceptable to the mortgage company. It is possible that you (as a non-panel firm) or the mortgage applicant are not entitled instruct a panel firm of your choice. Many lenders make it clear to their panel firms that where a non-panel member firm is instructed by one of their mortgage applicants, the lender will appoint a panel firm to carry out its instructions and to liaise with the borrower's conveyancer. You also need to make the costs implications and potential for delay very clear to your client.

During 2013, 50 sections of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook P2 were changed by Chelsea Building Society. Some changes are more important than others but as a firm on the Chelsea Building Society conveyancing panel you are of course obliged to comply with individual lender requirements, as set out in Part II of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. Locktons have recently pointed out in an article that non-compliance with Part 2 requirements account for a number of high value claims, and it is therefore important to be aware of any particularly onerous terms that an individual lender may impose.

Remember: CML requirements are not guidelines; they are the lender client’s instructions.

When a solicitor is acting for both Chelsea Building Society 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 the situation you find yourself in if the purchaser will not consent to the information being passed on to the lender the solicitor must cease to act for the Chelsea Building Society and it may well be prudent you to cease to act for the purchaser as well. You can not tell the Chelsea Building Society 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 Chelsea Building Society conveyancing panel status.

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 should get in touch with Chelsea Building Society to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook has a specific section for banks to cite who to contact to obtain standard documents. Chelsea Building Society in their Part 2’s state: It helps to quote the firm’s Chelsea Building Society solicitors panel number.