Yorkshire Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

Although not necessarily published, lenders have varying criteria . We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the Yorkshire Building Society conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

Automated alerting to inform lenders when there is a fundamental change to the firm (e.g. change of name)

Summary of annual accounts

List of all those who can sign off the Certificate Of Title

Details of any accreditation e.g. Lexcel or

List of all those who fund the firm, including non-lawyers if applicable

Whether the firm has ever knowingly accepted instructions on transactions involving Sale and Rent Back, Back to Back, Exchange and Delayed Completion and Lease Option, Below Market Value.

The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (broken down into sale

Full disciplinary history for each conveyancing solicitor

List of fee-earners who are foreign qualified

SRA or equivalent regulator registration number where applicable

There are many reports available, five of which are as follows:

• Evidence of undertaking logs
• Average time frame to send deeds to the lender (calculated from completion date or title registration)
• Buy to Let transactions
• Number of conveyancing cases by lender
• Analysis as to the nature of clients (e.g.existing/new/seen in person)

For most lenders participation on the lender's panel of conveyancers is at the absolute discretion of the the lender. Many lenders reserve the right to accept or reject any application without giving any reason. You should check your original application to join the Yorkshire Building Society conveyancing panel to see if you are entitled to a reason.

You have a number of obligations in this regard which you need to follow if you wish to comply with your lender client’s instructions as set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook. (I) You must take reasonable steps to verify that there are no discrepancies between the description of the property as valued and the title and other documents which a reasonably competent conveyancer should obtain, and, if there are, you must tell Yorkshire Building Society immediately. (b) You should take reasonable steps to verify that the assumptions stated by the valuer about the title (for example, its tenure, easements, boundaries and restrictions on its use) in the valuation and as stated in Yorkshire Building Society’s mortgage offer are correct. If they are not, please let Yorkshire Building Society know as soon as possible as it will be necessary for Yorkshire Building Society to check with the valuer whether the valuation needs to be revised. Yorkshire Building Society conveyancing panel solicitors are not expected to assume the role of valuer. Yorkshire Building Society are simply trying to ensure that the valuer has valued the property based on correct information. (III) Yorkshire Building Society recommend that you should advise the borrower that there may be defects in the property which are not revealed by the inspection carried out by their valuer and there may be omissions or inaccuracies in the report which do not matter to them as a lender but which would matter to the borrower. Yorkshire Building Society recommend that, if we send a copy of a valuation report that Yorkshire Building Society have obtained, you should also advise the borrower that the borrower should not rely on the report in deciding whether to proceed with the purchase and that he obtains his own more detailed report on the condition and value of the property, based on a fuller inspection such as a homebuyers report or structural survey. If you do not receive a copy of the valuation you can always ask for a copy of one from Yorkshire Building Society or the borrower. You still need to comply with the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Requirement relating to valuation reports even if you don't receive one directly. Failure to comply not only runs the risk of facing a claim by the lender but also being removed from the Yorkshire Building Society conveyancing panel

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 Yorkshire Building Society solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You need to communicate with Yorkshire Building Society to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook contains an individual section for lenders to enumerate who to contact to obtain standard documents. Yorkshire Building Society in their Part 2’s state: You will need to disclose your Yorkshire Building Society conveyancing panel number.