Newbury Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

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

Newbury Building Society Conveyancing Panel Assistance:

What are the Newbury Building Society conveyancing panel criteria?
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:
The Society operates a panel of conveyancers.  Acceptance to the panel is subject to application and the following requirements:
 
Firm must have at least four qualifying partners.
Current registration with SRA / CLC.
Professional Indemnity Insurance with minimum £2m cover.
For solicitors, CQS accreditation
All firms must have been practicing for a minimum of 5 years.
 
Firms that are set up as Alternative Business Structures are accepted if the underlying legal practice has been in existence at least 5 years and meets the above requirements.
 
Conveyancers that are not on the panel will be invited on receipt of a mortgage application where the client proposes them to act.
For commercial applications the lender will instruct their own solicitor (separate legal representation).
Contact Newbury Building Society’s Mortgage Underwriting Team 01635 555700, for an application.

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

Do Newbury Building Society or the BSA run CPD Courses for the Newbury Building Society approved solicitor panel in much the same way that the Law Society run cases for CQS accedited practices?
No such training is arranged by the BSA although they do organise numerous useful legal related conferences which are attended by firms on the Newbury Building Society conveyancing panel. Lexsure intend to run specific lender focused seminars in the coming months including a webinar on Newbury Building Society’s requirements . Practitioners on the Newbury Building Society conveyancing panel are welcome . Information about the webinar will be made available as part of the LENDERmonitor Alerts .
A long standing client of my firm is buying a semi detached house for £607,500 in Brighton with a mortgage over GBP 440,000. I am on the Newbury Building Society conveyancing panel but do Newbury Building Society have a separate approved panel when a mortgage is above 350k?
We only know of a couple of banks that operate a separate approved solicitors panel where the mortgage advance is over a certain threshold. You should nevertheless check directly with Newbury 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 Newbury Building Society
Are the Council of Licensed Conveyancers taking any action to protect licensed conveyancers from being removed from lender panels?
The Council of Licensed Conveyancers has begun dialogue 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 Newbury Building Society in the recent past
As the nominated COLP for my firm should I be thinking about SRA Handbook implications if my firm is removed off the Newbury Building Society solicitor panel?
The answer to this question really depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the Newbury 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 COLP 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 Newbury Building Society.
Who do building societies include on their approved solicitor panel?
In the same way that there is a unique Newbury 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.

Can the BSA assist me in an appeal having not been accepted onto the Newbury Building Society conveyancing panel?
If you have not been accepted or indeed been removed from the Newbury Building Society conveyancing panel then the BSA will not have any part to play in influencing Newbury Building Society in changing their mind. Please contact us here at Lexsure so that we can put you in touch with a consultant who may be able to assist. At the very least it’s worth a call to us.
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:

Find a Lawyer on the Newbury Building Society Approved Conveyancing Solicitors Panel

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