West Bromwich Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

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

West Bromwich Building Society Conveyancing Panel Assistance:

What are the West Bromwich 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:

Generally, Firms must have at least two Partners however all Firms wishing to be admitted to the conveyancing panel should contact Mortgage Deeds Administration Department in the first instance - See E.33 below for contact details.

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

Are the BSA planning on creating a online directory to to identify practices on the West Bromwich Building Society conveyancing panel ?
We are not aware of any intention on the part of the BSA to develop such a search facility .
As a firm on the West Bromwich Building Society solicitor panel who should we call if I have a query about the instructions ?
If you are a conveyancer and have a query about the Specific Requirements, you should make contact with West Bromwich Building Society. The BSA will not advise or comment on specific queries relating to West Bromwich Building Society or other lenders.
Being on the West Bromwich Building Society conveyancing panel how long am I expected to keep hold of the complete conveyancing file?
The BSA Mortgage Instructions state that the firm must keep the file for a minimum six years from the date of the mortgage. Data imaging is normally suitable compliance with this requirement. As a firm on the West Bromwich Building Society conveyancing panel you must allow West Bromwich Building Society to conduct such reasonable audit of your information security measures as West Bromwich Building Society or their agents may to ensure your compliance with your file retention obligations.
As the nominated Compliance Officer for Legal Practice what do I need to consider in terms of disclosures to the SRA if my firm is suspended off the West Bromwich Building Society conveyancing panel?
The answer to this question really depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the West Bromwich 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 West Bromwich Building Society.
My practice have never been on the West Bromwich Building Society conveyancing panel as well other banks . My clients, who have applied for a mortgage with West Bromwich Building Society wish use my firms conveyancing services regardless of the fact that we are not on the West Bromwich Building Society panel. Am I doing anything wrong is suggesting to my client that they use a firm down the road to represent West Bromwich Building Society on mortgage aspect of the transaction?
Please tread carefully here as what you are intending may not be acceptable to the lender. It is possible that you (as a non-panel firm) or the mortgage applicant are not entitled 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.
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 West Bromwich Building Society conveyancing panel. Can you tell me how many Specific Requirement changes took place by West Bromwich Building Society during 2013?
During this period 18 sections of the BSA Mortgage Instructions were changed by West Bromwich Building Society. Some changes are more important than others but as a firm on the West Bromwich 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.

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 West Bromwich Building Society Approved Conveyancing Solicitors

powered by LenderPanel

Average number of days to register title including a charge in favour of West Bromwich Building Society
This information relates to purchase only and not remortgages.
YearDays*
2024 [no data]
2023 52.3
2022 [no data]
2021 44.7
2020 [no data]
2019 28.2
* Data aggregated from sources including COMPLETIONmonitor