Cumberland Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

The information on this page is designed to keep solicitors and licensed conveyancers abreast of latest requirements changes by Cumberland Building Society and to assist in remaining on the Cumberland Building Society Arroved Conveyancers Panel.

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How does my firm apply to be on the Cumberland Building Society Arroved Conveyancers Panel?

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Cumberland Building Society Solicitor Panel Assistance:

What are the Cumberland Building Society conveyancing panel criteria?

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:

For residential mortgages (including Buy to Let and Holiday Let) the conveyancing panel is administered by Lender Exchange and the Customer Service Department, Redemptions. For Commercial Mortgages the conveyancing panel is administered by the Commercial Lending Team.

You must also comply with the terms and conditions of your Cumberland Building Society solicitor panel appointment.

Is it possible that Cumberland Building Society will assign a different firm on the Cumberland Building Society solicitor panel for a further advance during the mortgage term ?

The Building Society Association Mortgage Instructions applicable to a solicitor on the Cumberland Building Society conveyancing panel indicates that when a further advance is required for alterations or improvements to the property we will not normally instruct a member of the Cumberland Building Society conveyancing panel but if you are instructed the appropriate provisions of the BSA mortgage instruction will need to be adhered to .

A long standing client of my firm is looking to acquire a semi detached house for £740k in Mill Hill with a mortgage over GBP 525k. I am on the Cumberland Building Society conveyancing panel but do Cumberland Building Society have a separate approved panel when a mortgage is above 300,000?

Lexsure only know of a couple of banks that operate a separate approved solicitors panel where the mortgage advance is over a certain amount. You should nevertheless check directly with Cumberland Building Society. At one stage HSBC would only allow Sole practitioners to act for them where the mortgage was below £150,000. We are not sure if HSBC still operate such a condition. In your case it is best to check with Cumberland Building Society

What reports are available via COMPLETIONmonitor to assist my application to be on the Cumberland Building Society conveyancing 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 (purchase and remortgage)
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. new client )

Are there conditions, outside the BSA Mortgage Instructions, that a firm should be aware of when on the Cumberland Building Society conveyancing panel?

In order to be on the Cumberland Building Society conveyancing panel solicitors have to complete an application form and agree Terms and Conditions. A sample of 5 conditions that we see amongst many lenders Terms (but not necessarily Cumberland Building Society) are as follows:

That any deeds you borrow from us in connection with the personal mortgage of a partner or director at your firm must be requested by a partner or director other than the partner or director concerned and the transaction must be handled by that other partner or director. If you are a sole practitioner and require the loan of deeds in connection with your own mortgage, you must nominate a different firm on our panel to request the deeds and handle the transaction.
You have the consent of all borrowers to apply for the deeds, before making any request for deeds. We will accept your request for deeds on the understanding that you have obtained such consent. If this is not the case then you should advise our Deeds Services Department in writing when you make your request
To be responsible for the reconstitution of the title deeds (whether the title is registered or unregistered, at your own cost), where any deeds in your possession, or were last known to be in your possession, go missing.
To carry out our instructions with reasonable care and skill, ensuring that all employees carrying out mortgage work on our behalf are qualified and competent to do so
To forward the title deeds and documents to another solicitor within 24 hours of an instruction from us requiring you to do so. On forwarding the deeds as instructed you will confirm to us that you have done so. Upon receipt of your confirmation, we will release you from all undertakings relating to your holding the title deeds.

What type of firms do building societies allow to be on their conveyancing panel?

In the same way that there is a unique Cumberland Building Society conveyancing panel most building societies, operate a conveyancing panel for solicitors and other conveyancers that the lender will instruct. Terms and Conditions and criteria for inclusion on a building society conveyancing panel vary from lender-to-lender. Having CQS accreditation may be a requirement.

Institutional lenders, such as a building society, is a client and is entitled to instruct the solicitor or conveyancer of its choosing (who, in turn, is free to accept or refuse instructions). Therefore, if lender and borrower cannot agree which solicitor or conveyancer should represent them jointly, they would usually proceed on a separate representation basis.

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 Cumberland Building Society Arroved Conveyancers Panel

Average number of days to register title including a charge in favour of Cumberland Building Society

This information relates to purchase only and not remortgages.

Year	Days*
2026	[no data]
2025	[no data]
2024	15.3
2023	[no data]
2022	[no data]
2021	[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