Darlington Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

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

Looking for information about your firm's panel status?

How does my firm apply to be on the Darlington Building Society Solicitor Panel?

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How can my firm be reinstated onto the Darlington Building Society Solicitor Panel?

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Darlington Building Society Conveyancing Panel: Recently Asked Questions

Can a firm make a complaint to the Council of Mortgage Lenders about being excluded from the Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel?

The CML is not a regulator and therefore will not advise on grievances against lenders. You can of course contact Lexsure to see if we can assist.

Do you have any idea what Lenders such as Darlington Building Society are asking for when it comes to applying to be on their approved solicitor list?

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 Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

List of fee-earners who are foreign qualified

List of all those who can sign off the Certificate Of Title

Whether the firm is able to operate in other jurisdictions

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

List of all those who fund the firm, including non-lawyers if applicable

Structure of firm and, where applicable, its group

Full career history for each licensed conveyancer including registration date with Council of Licensed Conveyancers

List of all Licensed Conveyancers within firm

Charge registration history

Full complaints history for each licensed conveyancer

What type of firms do building societies allow to be on their Conveyancing Panels?

In the same way that there is a unique Darlington 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. The BSA have not published the equivalent of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Part 3s.

My conveyancing assistant has resigned on short notice. I urgently need to prioritise making sure that charges are registered. That said, how quickly do I need to send deeds to Darlington Building Society once the charge is registered before my firm runs the risk of being suspended off the conveyancing panel for Darlington Building Society?

Darlington Building Society will likely expect the deeds to be sent to them within 10 days of you receiving the TID (unless their specific P2 requirements specifically state that they you are not to send them anything). Most COTs refer to complying with the Certificate of Title referred to in IB (3.7) of the SRA Code of Conduct 2011, published by the Law Society which states that you ‘will despatch to you such deeds and documents relating to the Property as you require with a list of them in the form prescribed by you within ten working days of receipt by us of the title information document from the Land Registry’ As to whether the lender will suspend your panel status this very much varies according to the lender’s own internal policies The more cases you have the more risk you face. Some lenders may take action if there records show that the deeds are outstanding for more than 3 matters. The fact is that if you keep within the time frame then you will have more chance of remaining on the Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel.

Are figures published revealing the Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel size and the number of conveyancing firms removed from their panel each quarter?

With mortgage companies and solicitors working so closely together 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 Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel but for all lender panels

If my application is successful will CQS acceptance guarantee my firm’s acceptance on to lenders conveyancing panels?

CQS accreditation gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a prerequisite for firms wishing to remain on their approved list of conveyancing solicitors. Some Lenders now use the Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation as the starting point for Panel acceptance such as Astra Mortgages.

My firm is listed on the Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel and due to complete a remortgage within the next few weeks. My papers do not include a Legal Charge for the client to sign. Who do I contact at Darlington Building Society to get a duplicate Deed?

You would be advised to contact Darlington Building Society to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook contains an express section for lenders to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Darlington Building Society in their Part 2’s state:

Don’t forget to disclose your Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel reference.

Find a Lawyer on the Darlington Building Society Solicitor Panel

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

This information relates to purchase only and not remortgages.

Year	Days*
2024	[no data]
2023	[no data]
2022	[no data]
2021	[no data]
2020	[no data]
2019	[no data]

* Data aggregated from sources including COMPLETIONmonitor

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