Nottingham Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

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

Nottingham Building Society Solicitor Panel Information:

What are the Nottingham 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:

Minimum of 2 principle partners, minimum 3 year trading history, £2m liability insurance or £3m for LLP’s, practising certificates required and Sole practitioners not acceptable. Contact Lending services

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

My client is purchasing a semi detached house for £740k in Newcastle with a mortgage over GBP 525k. I am on the Nottingham Building Society conveyancing panel but do Nottingham Building Society have a separate approved panel when a mortgage is above 350k?
Lexsure only know of two or three banks that operate a separate approved solicitors panel where the mortgage advance is over a certain amount. You should nevertheless check directly with Nottingham 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 Nottingham Building Society
What reports are available via COMPLETIONmonitor to assist my appeal to be reinstated on the Nottingham Building Society solicitor panel?
There are many reports available but examples include:
  • Average time frame to register charges at the Land Registry
  • Average time frame to send deeds to the lender (calculated from completion date or title registration)
  • Number of conveyancing cases by lender
  • The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (broken down into sale)
  • Average mortgage advance
  • Buy to Let transactions
  • Notification to Lender analysis indicating frequency and nature of disclosures - to include benchmarking analysis against aggregate data
  • Evidence of undertaking logs
  • Current and historic missed priority dates
  • Analysis as to the nature of clients (e.g. existing client )
Are there conditions, outside the BSA Mortgage Instructions, that a firm should be aware of when on the Nottingham Building Society conveyancing panel?
In order to be on the Nottingham Building Society conveyancing panel solicitors have to complete an application form and agree Terms and Conditions. A sample of 5 conditions that we see amongst many lenders Terms (but not necessarily Nottingham Building Society) are as follows:
  • To forward the title deeds and documents to another conveyancer within 24 hours of an instruction from us requiring you to do so. On forwarding the deeds as instructed you will confirm to us that you have done so. Upon receipt of your confirmation, we will release you from all undertakings relating to your holding the title deeds.
  • To quote on all communications with us relating to deeds issues, whether by telephone or in writing, the panel number that we provide for each practising address and the mortgage account or application number for the mortgage concerned.
  • If you are a sole practitioner, to arrange for appropriate locum cover from our panel where necessary. Your locum must be a member of the Conveyancing panel.
  • That any deeds you borrow from us in connection with the personal mortgage of a partner or director at your firm must be requested by a partner or director other than the partner or director concerned and the transaction must be handled by that other partner or director. If you are a sole practitioner and require the loan of deeds in connection with your own mortgage, you must nominate a different firm on our panel to request the deeds and handle the transaction.
  • Without prejudice to your obligation to comply in full with the Safeguards provisions in the BSA Lenders’ Handbook, to report to us as soon as possible any suspicion that you have about the genuineness of any transaction in any respect.
Who do building societies accept on their conveyancing panel?
In the same way that there is a unique Nottingham 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.

I recently attended a seminar arranged via my PI broker where it was mentioned that solicitors are being sued for non-compliance with BSA Mortgage Instructions. I am on the Nottingham Building Society conveyancing panel. Can you tell me how many Specific Requirement changes took place by Nottingham Building Society during 2013?
During this period 3 sections of the BSA Mortgage Instructions were changed by Nottingham Building Society. Some changes are more important than others but as a firm on the Nottingham Building Society conveyancing panel you are of course obliged to comply with individual lender requirements. Locktons have recently pointed out in an article that non-compliance with lender requirements account for a number of high value claims, and it is therefore important to be aware of any particularly onerous terms that an individual lender may impose.

Remember: BSA requirements are not guidelines; they are the lender client’s instructions.

I seldom receive a copy of a lender valuation any more. Does the extent of my Nottingham Building Society conveyancing panel obligations extend to checking the valuation details where I am acting on a purchase with Nottingham Building Society as the lender?
You have a number of obligations in this regard which are to be followed if you wish to comply with your lender client’s instructions as set out in the BSA Mortgage Instructions. First, You must take reasonable steps to verify that there are no discrepancies between the description of the property as compared to their old address.
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 Nottingham Building Society Approved Conveyancing Solicitors Panel

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Average number of days to register title including a charge in favour of Nottingham Building Society
This information relates to purchase only and not remortgages.
YearDays*
2025 [no data]
2024 [no data]
2023 [no data]
2022 [no data]
2021 [no data]
2020 [no data]
* Data aggregated from sources including COMPLETIONmonitor