Swansea Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

This not something that the CML would traditionally get involved with but they do provided numerous useful conveyancing related conferences which are attended by firms on the Swansea Building Society conveyancing panel. It is our intention to run specific lender focused seminars in the near future including a webinar on Swansea Building Society’s Part 2 obligations. Solicitors on the Swansea Building Society conveyancing panel will be invited. Further details will be made available as part of the LENDERmonitor Alerts.

The Law Society of Scotland has advised that solicitors should check their panel status with lenders prior to accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Swansea 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 mumsnet.com

The CML Part II requirements of Swansea Building Society are silent on this. Most lenders address the question of file retention via their Terms of panel appointment where they generally provide that for evidential purposes, the firm must keep the file for at least of 6 years from the date of the mortgage. Data imagining is normally suitable compliance with this requirement. Many lenders point out in that it is the practice of some fraudsters to demand the conveyancing file on completion in order to destroy evidence that may later be used against them. It is therefore important to retain these documents to protect Swansea Building Society’s interest. To be absolutely sure of Swansea Building Society requirements in this regard please check the Terms and Conditions of Swansea Building Society’s conveyancing panel appointment.

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 Swansea 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.

The best placed professionals to answer this question are your insurance brokers. The chances are that on the basis that you have not been removed for fraud or negligence reasons that there will be little or no impact. The main reason why a firm would be removed off of a lender panel is due to low volume of conveyancing cases although there may be a number of criteria for Swansea Building Society solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You should communicate with Swansea Building Society to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook includes an express inquiry for banks to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Swansea Building Society in their Part 2’s state: It is likely that you will need to quote the firm’s Swansea Building Society conveyancing panel reference.