National Counties Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

The fact of the matter is that estate agents are suffering if their clients start out on the conveyancing process using a conveyancer who is not on the panel with the purchaser’s chosen lender. Many conveyancing firms are only discovering when they begin working on a case that they are no longer able to work with that lender. Given the inevitable resultant delays in the transaction the chances of an abortive deal increases dramatically. in the circumstances there is understandable anguish on the part of the estate agent as a result of the lost time should the client have to change solicitors .

You might expect National Counties Building Society via their Part Two conditions to address this but the Handbook makes no mention on time frames. Do look at the Terms of National Counties Building Society’s Conveyancing Panel Appointment that you entered into. For many lender's these Terms have a clause such as: ‘To keep us informed of the reasons for any delay in your being able to send the title deeds and documents we require to us within 3 months of completion or evidence of proof of registration within that period. (We will send reminders if the deeds have not been received but will not acknowledge receipt of deeds’ It is important to keep National Counties Building Society informed. Law firms can often compound their problems by not communicating with the lender when there is a delay or problem.

The key here is the caveat ‘more onerous’. You have to try and take an objective view as to whether the Terms relating to the National Counties Building Society conveyancing appointment (or other terms for other lenders) are ‘more onerous’ than the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Conditions. Depending on the Terms you may need to provide details on your renewal form. If you are in any doubt please call your broker to discuss before completing the answer.

You will be aware of the trend in recent years for lenders such as National Counties Building Society to take a much more pro-active approach in relation to the management and make up of their conveyancer panels. The knock on effect of this is that it is more likely that there will be a higher number of cases where a conveyancer is not on the National Counties Building Society panel. The situation that you find yourself in is where your client’s purchaser has his/her own lawyer and National Counties Building Society have appointed a separate lawyer to act on their behalf where the new CML Part 3 requirements apply. Section 11.1 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Part 3 requires National Counties Building Society’s panel solicitor to ‘ ...transfer the mortgage advance directly to the Seller’s conveyancer. The Seller’s conveyancer must be required to hold the mortgage advance on the terms of the required undertaking. The example borrower’s conveyancer’s undertaking letter includes a specific example of the seller’s undertaking’. You should expect to be advised to received the mortgage advance directly from the conveyancing solicitors for National Counties Building Society. You will no doubt be required to undertake directly to National Counties Building Society’s solicitors to discharge any charges secured on the property and to send directly to them the executed transfer and any other documents required to enable us to effect registration. Please remember to carefully consider undertakings in accordance with your firm’s protocol and record them in your undertakings logg. Please remember that as well as this breach of this undertaking having regulatory and compliance implications it’s breach could also result in your firm being removed off the National Counties Building Society conveyancing panel.

CQS membership 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 panels. A number of mortgage companies now use the scheme as the starting point for Panel membership such as HSBC.

You would be advised to contact National Counties Building Society to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook has an individual section for lenders to enumerate who to contact to obtain standard documents. National Counties Building Society in their Part 2’s state: Don’t forget to quote your National Counties Building Society solicitors panel number.