Family Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

The answer to this question really depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the Family Building Society conveyancing panel. The top 3 reasons are as follows:

1. lack of transactions
2. the lawyer is a sole practitioner
3. as part of the HSBC panel reduction.

In these three circumstances it is unlikely that you would expected to take any action. Disclosure and other compliance considerations are more likely to be relevant if the reason for removal is due to breaches of lender requirements or allegations of fraud or negligence. Whether the reasoning should trigger a disclosable 'material' breach will depend on the firm and the circumstances around possible failures to comply with the SRA Authorisation Rules, and the SRA will judge each case on its own merits. Factors such as the detriment or risk of detriment to clients, the scale of the issue and overall impact on the firm will need to be considered in deciding whether a failure is 'material'. As the compliance officer you will need systems to identify patterns of breaches. Even if you don't consider there to be regulatory implications the firms COFA should give some thought to whether she/he needs to take any action as result of being removed from the Family Building Society conveyancing panel.

In the same way that there is a unique Family 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.

11 borrowers attempt to locate a solicitor on the Family Building Society panel every 4 weeks in Hendon. Feel free to contact the Lexsure team who will tell how your firm can be listed by those searching for conveyancing in Hendon.

CQS membership gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a prerequisite for firms wishing to join their panels. Some mortgage companies now use the scheme as the starting point for Panel membership as is the case with HSBC.

You need to get in touch with Family Building Society to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook incorporates an explicit question for banks to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Family Building Society in their Part 2’s state: Don’t forget to quote your Family Building Society solicitors panel number.