Mansfield Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

The information on this page is designed to keep solicitors and licensed conveyancers abreast of latest requirements changes by Mansfield Building Society and to assist in remaining on the Mansfield Building Society Approved Conveyancing Solicitors Panel.

Mansfield Building Society Conveyancing Panel Assistance:

What are the Mansfield Building Society conveyancing panel arrangements?
Unlike the CML the Building Society Mortgage Instructions deal with this. Section A.12 states ‘In order to act on our behalf your firm or company must be a member of our conveyancing panel provided we are a society that operates one – see specific requirements for details of our arrangements. The Special Requirements state:

We do not have our own separate conveyancing panel. Conveyancers must be on the Law Society/Licensed conveyancers website. The Society does not allow Licensed Conveyancers or solicitors who are a sole trader to act, insisting on a minimum of 2 partners. The practicing certificates for all partners at the office are obtained, and any new requests to join the panel will initially require the completion of a conveyancing panel questionnaire. The validity of a firm is verified and checks are made to identify any disciplinary issues against the individual/firm, and evidence of PII cover is also obtained which must be for a minimum of £2m per claim (£3m for relevant recognised bodies or relevant licensed bodies).. A.13. The BSA Mortgage Instructions do not affect any responsibilities that you have to us under the general law or any practice rule or guidance issued by your professional body from time to time.

You must also comply with the terms and conditions of your Mansfield Building Society solicitor panel appointment.

Do Mansfield Building Society or the Building Society Association run training Courses for the Mansfield Building Society approved solicitor panel in much the same way that the Law Society run cases for CQS accedited practices?
The BSA do not involve themselves in training but they do organise a number of useful conveyancing related conferences which are attended by firms on the Mansfield Building Society conveyancing panel. Lexsure intend to run specific lender focused seminars in the near future including a webinar on Mansfield Building Society’s requirements . Practitioners on the Mansfield Building Society conveyancing panel will be invited . Further details will be made available as part of the LENDERmonitor change Notifications .
Is it true that the Law Society has advised that firms check their status on the Mansfield Building Society conveyancing panel?
The Law Society of Scotland has suggested that solicitors should check their panel status with lenders before accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Mansfield Building Society conveyancing panel. The recommendation arises from the practice of a number of mortgage lenders who remove solicitors from their panels without prior notice as part of their panel management system, which can lead to some solicitors discovering this only once instructed. This is sensible advice as a client finding out midway through a transaction that their lawyer is not on the approved lender panel is very frustrating and can lead to complaints. Many online consumer forums contain posts where someone is complaining about finding that their lawyer is not on a lender conveyancing panel. Such forums include moneysavingexpert.com
Am I obliged, being on the Mansfield Building Society conveyancing panel, to carry out a Chancel Search?
Mansfield Building Society make no specific obligation to carry out any of the searches listed. The BSA Mortgage Instructions simply states that ‘you must ensure that any other searches which may be appropriate to the particular property, taking into account its locality and other features are carried out’.

Please note that most ‘less usual searches’ (as described in the Law Society’s Conveyancing Handbook) are not optional as far as Mansfield Building Society are concerned if they are ‘appropriate’. Most lenders will not require environmental searches (you should Check the Mansfield Building Society Specific Requirements of BSA 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.

What is the CLC doing to protect licensed conveyancers from being removed from lender panels?
The Council of Licensed Conveyancers has begun 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 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 Mansfield Building Society as well as the BSA
Given that I am the COLP for my firm what do I need to consider in terms of disclosures to the SRA if my firm is removed off the Mansfield Building Society solicitor panel?
The answer to this question really depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the Mansfield 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 needs to consider whether he or she needs to take any action as result of being removed from the conveyancing panel of Mansfield Building Society.
My firm is not on the Mansfield Building Society approved panel among other banks . My clients, who are getting a mortgage with Mansfield Building Society would still like to instruct me even though I am not on the Mansfield Building Society panel. Is it fine for me to use a firm down the road to act for Mansfield Building Society on mortgage aspect of the conveyancing?
You need to be careful here as what you are suggesting may not be acceptable to the mortgage company. It is possible that you (as a non-panel firm) or the mortgage applicant are not at liberty 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.
What lender panels do you receive the most questions about?
BSA lenders do not come within the top 20 lenders in terms of frequency of questions. The most popular lender panels in terms of questions are as follows:

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Average number of days to register title including a charge in favour of Mansfield Building Society
This information relates to purchase only and not remortgages.
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* Data aggregated from sources including COMPLETIONmonitor