Ecology Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

Each lender has different criteria. We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the Ecology Building Society conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

Number of lender conveyancing panels the firm is currently on

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

Details of any accreditation e.g. Lexcel or

Number of partners per branch of the firm

Solicitor

Areas of Law covered by the firm

Structure of firm and, where applicable, its group

Automated alerting to inform lenders when there is a fundamental change to the firm (e.g. change of name)

Full complaints history for each licensed conveyancer

Full disciplinary history for each conveyancing solicitor

The Council of Licensed Conveyancers has entered discussions with banks and their representative bodies to see whether and how the risks that lenders wish to mitigate could be addressed through the regulatory framework rather than via ad hoc arrangements that can differ from lender to lender. It is likely that that the CLC have been in touch with lenders such as Ecology Building Society in the recent past.

Please tread carefully here as what you are proposing 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. Lenders such as Nationwide BS make it clear to their panel firms that where a non-panel member firm is instructed by one of their mortgage applicants, the lender must 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.

Ecology Building Society approved panel lawyers have to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook instructions relating to Transfer of Equity. These are set out in Section 16.3. First, your firm must approve the form of Transfer of Equity (which should be in the Land Registry's standard form) and, if Ecology Building Society require, the deed of covenant on their behalf. You will need to check Ecology Building Society CML Part 2 conditions to see if Ecology Building Society have standard forms of transfer and deed of covenant. Please note that this requirement can change from one transaction to another so do check! Second,When drafting or approving a transfer, you should bear in mind that: although the transfer should state that it is subject to the mortgage (identified by date and parties), it need give no details of the terms of the mortgage; the transfer need not state the amount of the mortgage debt. If it does, the figure should include both principal and interest at the date of completion, which you must check ; there should be no statement that all interest has been paid to date. Further obligations are set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook which have to be followed by all firms on the Ecology Building Society conveyancing panel

In this situation please clarify on the form what action you have taken to find out the reasons behind cancellation of your Ecology Building Society panel status. In particular please provide details if you have received communications from the lender. E.G. before cessation of your panel membership did you receive any letters or calls from the lender informing you as to why they reached this decision?

You need to communicate with Ecology Building Society to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook contains an individual question for banks to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Ecology Building Society in their Part 2’s state: It helps to quote the firm’s Ecology Building Society solicitors panel reference.