Looking for information about your firm's panel status?
Furness Building Society Conveyancing Panel: Recently Asked Questions
In appealing a decision by Furness Building Society, it may be useful to provide the following information:
- Comprehensive disclosure of your firm’s conveyancing history
- Your COMPLETIONmonitor reports, assuming you use the Lexsure software
- Your recent claims history
- Full details of all staff in your firm and their role.
- Note down if a solicitor has been admitted to the role on completion of the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test.
- Provide duplicate practising certificates, the firm's current PII schedule and your accountant's certificate, summarising what % of the firm's gross fee income is resulting from residential conveyancing
On appeal some conveyancing firms have been able to regain membership to panels notwithstanding the policy by the respective lenders to refuse panel membership to firms with certain profiles or characteristics. The success is primarily due to the firms’ ability to persuade the lender to make an exception if there is sufficient evidence to reassure them that the firm has a healthy attitude towards risk mitigation.
Remember that most ‘less usual searches’ (as described in the Law Society’s Conveyancing Handbook) are not optional as far as Furness Building Society are concerned if they are ‘appropriate’. Most lenders will not require environmental searches (you should Check Part 2 of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook to be sure), but you are obliged to explain risks and availability to the client.
Ground stability, Plansearch,flood searches as well as the searches listed in the question are optional – but only to the extent that you have allowed the borrower client to make an informed choice. Regardless of whether there is a mortgage, If you have not advised the client that these (and other) searches are available and what risks they cover, then you will be liable if the client suffers loss through not conducting one. Does your ROT and Ts and Cs cover this?
A leading search supplier lists over 70 conveyancing searches – do you know what all of them are and when they may be relevant? If you are unsure as to which searches are appropriate based on location contact your search provider or call one of the leading search companies such as STL.
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.
Furness 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.
Find a Lawyer on the Furness Building Society Conveyancing Panel
powered by LenderPanel
Year | Days* |
---|---|
2024 | [no data] |
2023 | [no data] |
2022 | [no data] |
2021 | [no data] |
2020 | [no data] |
2019 | [no data] |
Other related topics:
- CQS policy templates and procedures for accredited Furness Building Society Firms
- Draft Report on Title precedent for Furness Building Society borrowers
- Draft Anti Money Laundering PolicyTemplate for Furness Building Society panel firms to consider
- Dealing with Lender Policy Template panel for CQS accredited firms on the Furness Building Society lender panel
- Buy-to-Let help for Furness Building Society
- Consent-to-Let help for Furness Building Society
- Contractor Mortgages with Furness Building Society