Family 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 Family 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

Summary of annual accounts

List of all those staff who work within the conveyancing team

Number of partners per branch of the firm

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

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

Whether the firm has ever knowingly accepted instructions on transactions involving Sale and Rent Back, Back to Back, Exchange and Delayed Completion and Lease Option, Below Market Value.

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

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

Structure of firm and, where applicable, its group

In operating open conveyancing panels, lenders such as Family Building Society face a number of fraud and negligence risks. While there is no authoritative source of data on lender exposure to solicitor–led mortgage fraud, anecdotal evidence from lenders indicates exposure on individual cases are often in the millions of pounds. The National Fraud Authority estimates that £1bn per year is lost in mortgage -related frauds in total, which is seen as a conservative estimate.

These risks are exacerbated by the lack of a comprehensive set of data on all conveyancing firms (which, for the avoidance of doubt, would include solicitors and conveyancers across the UK) which is in a readily accessible format. Currently, lenders vet the suitability of their panel firms against a variety of disparate, incomplete and potentially inaccurate sets of information. One top 5 lender pointed out to us that it is almost impossible to track individual fraudsters who move from firm to firm, especially where they are no longer registered or no longer hold a valid practicing certificate.

Family Building Society and other lenders are in varying stages of reviewing their approach to vetting firms on their conveyancing panels, to ensure their ongoing exposure to unsuitable firms is reduced. There is also regulatory impetus on lenders to ensure that they have satisfactory oversight of their third party panels, including a due-diligence process.

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.

5 borrowers search for a property lawyer on the Family Building Society panel every 4 weeks in Hendon. The lenderpanel directory service team who will show you how your firm can be identified by those searching for conveyancing in Hendon.

CQS accreditation 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 Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation as the starting point for Panel membership as is the case with Santander.

You would be advised to get in touch with Family Building Society to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook includes an express question for banks to reveal who to contact to obtain standard documents. Family Building Society in their Part 2’s state: Don’t forget to quote the firm’s Family Building Society solicitors panel number.