Bank of Scotland Conveyancing Panel Information

In the same way that there is a unique Bank of Scotland 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. The BSA have not published the equivalent of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Part 3s.

You will be aware of the trend in recent years for lenders such as Bank of Scotland to take a much more pro-active approach in relation to the management and make up of their conveyancer panels. The knock on effect of this is that it is more likely that there will be a higher number of cases where a conveyancer is not on the Bank of Scotland panel. The situation that you find yourself in is where your client’s purchaser has his/her own lawyer and Bank of Scotland have appointed a separate lawyer to act on their behalf where the new CML Part 3 requirements apply. Section 11.1 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Part 3 requires Bank of Scotland’s panel solicitor to ‘ ...transfer the mortgage advance directly to the Seller’s conveyancer. The Seller’s conveyancer must be required to hold the mortgage advance on the terms of the required undertaking. The example borrower’s conveyancer’s undertaking letter includes a specific example of the seller’s undertaking’. You should expect to be advised to received the mortgage advance directly from the conveyancing solicitors for Bank of Scotland. You will no doubt be required to undertake directly to Bank of Scotland’s solicitors to discharge any charges secured on the property and to send directly to them the executed transfer and any other documents required to enable us to effect registration. Please remember to carefully consider undertakings in accordance with your firm’s protocol and record them in your undertakings logg. Please remember that as well as this breach of this undertaking having regulatory and compliance implications it’s breach could also result in your firm being removed off the Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel.

Bank of Scotland approved solicitors have to comply with the Part II instructions relating to Transfer of Equity. These are set out in Section 16.3. First, your firm must approve the form of Transfer of Equity (which should be in the Land Registry's standard form) and, if Bank of Scotland require, the deed of covenant on their behalf. You will need to check Bank of Scotland CML Part 2 conditions to see if Bank of Scotland have standard forms of transfer and deed of covenant. Please note that this requirement can change from one transaction to another so do check! Second,When drafting or approving a transfer, you should bear in mind that: although the transfer should state that it is subject to the mortgage (identified by date and parties), it need give no details of the terms of the mortgage; the transfer need not state the amount of the mortgage debt. If it does, the figure should include both principal and interest at the date of completion, which you must check ; there should be no statement that all interest has been paid to date. Further obligations are set out in the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook which have to be followed by all firms on the Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel

On the basis that your practice in is on the Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel and you are instructed by them in relation to a leasehold property, you must report to them if it becomes apparent that the landlord is either absent or insolvent. If Bank of Scotland are to lend, they may require indemnity insurance. In any event,you will need to check Bank of Scotland’s specific requirements. Notwithstanding whether Bank of Scotland will lend in such circumstances you still need to advise the borrower (unless you are acting for Bank of Scotland alone) as to the risks of buying a property with an insolvent or absentee freeholder.

It would be advisable to provide details of the date of removal, information on the reason for removal, date of appeal and any reason given for reinstatement. This should not adversely impact your firm’s application but gives the CQS team a complete picture of what has gone on.

You need to get in touch with Bank of Scotland to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook contains a specific inquiry for banks to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Bank of Scotland in their Part 2’s state: Always remember to quote the firm’s Bank of Scotland solicitors panel number.