Manchester Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

We only know of a couple of lenders that operate a distinct conveyancing panel where the mortgage advance is over a certain threshold. You should nevertheless check directly with Manchester Building Society. At one stage HSBC would only allow Sole practitioners to act for them where the mortgage was below £150,000. We are not sure if HSBC still operate such a condition. In your case it is best to check with Manchester Building Society

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

Areas of Law covered by the firm

The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (broken down into sale

Full complaints history for each licensed conveyancer

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

List of all Licensed Conveyancers within firm

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

List of fee-earners who are foreign qualified

Full complaints history for each conveyancing solicitor

House price discrepancies (declared to lender vs. registered at Land Registry)

Number of partners per branch of the firm

When a solicitor is acting for both Manchester Building Society and borrower there is potential for conflicts to arise. You owe duties to both clients. All information received by you from your client is confidential and cannot be disclosed without the client’s consent. In the situation you find yourself in if the purchaser will not consent to the information being passed on to the lender the solicitor must cease to act for the Manchester Building Society and it may well be prudent you to cease to act for the purchaser as well. You can not tell the Manchester Building Society the reason for termination of the retainer over and above the fact that a conflict has arisen. The fact that you can no longer act should alert even the most somnambulistic of lenders that something is wrong with the borrower and/or purchase. The fact that you have disinstructed yourself should not affect your Manchester Building Society conveyancing panel status.

Manchester Building Society approved solicitors 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 Manchester Building Society require, the deed of covenant on their behalf. You will need to check Manchester Building Society CML Part 2 conditions to see if Manchester 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 Manchester Building Society conveyancing panel

The Law Society’s 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 join their approved list of conveyancing solicitors. Some Lenders now use CQS as the starting point for Panel approval such as HSBC.

You need to contact Manchester Building Society to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook contains an explicit section for banks to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Manchester Building Society in their Part 2’s state: You will need to quote your Manchester Building Society solicitors panel number.