Looking for information about your firm's panel status?
Astra Mortgages Solicitor Panel Assistance:
What are the Astra Mortgages 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:
To be a member of our conveyancing panel you must be CQS accredited, must have submitted an application form, be registered on www.lawsociety.org, produced your current Practising Certificate together with evidence of professional indemnity insurance cover for a minimum of £2m (£3m if the firm is a Limited Liability Partnership or a company). Any panel application is subject to individual assessment and approval.
You must also comply with the terms and conditions of your Astra Mortgages solicitor panel appointment.
Do the Building Society Association intend to launch a online directory to list practices on the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel ?
We are not aware of any plans on the part of the BSA to develop such a search facility .
Will the fact that my firm receives Alerts via this site help in my application to join the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel?
The requirements to join the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel is likely to be fairly detailed and is unlikely to include signing up to LENDERmonitor alerts.
Will the fact that my practice has signed up to Alerts via this site help in my application to join the Astra Mortgages solicitor panel?
The requirements to join the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel is likely to be fairly detailed and is unlikely to include signing up to LENDERmonitor alerts.
Are there conditions, outside the BSA Mortgage Instructions, that a
firm should be aware of when on the Astra Mortgages
conveyancing panel?
In order to be on the Astra Mortgages 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 Astra Mortgages) are as follows:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- To be responsible for the reconstitution of the title deeds (whether the title is registered or unregistered, at your own cost), where any deeds in your possession, or were last known to be in your possession, go missing.
- To notify us in writing of any change in your details as held on our records for example, change of address, telephone number, document exchange number email address. Notification must be given to us at least 10 days before the change will be effective.
I noticed the following question on my PI renewal form this year ‘Has your Firm been asked by a lender to agree to more onerous terms and conditions than provided for in the BSA Mortgage Instructions?’ My firm is on the majority of bank panels including the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel. We have Terms and Conditions of appointment which we have to follow. Am I supposed to mention these Terms?
The concern here is if you are expect to enter into ‘more onerous’ conditions that than the Handbook obligations.
You have to try and take an objective view as to whether the Terms relating to the Astra Mortgages conveyancing appointment (or other terms for other lenders) are ‘more onerous’ than the BSA Mortgage Instructions. 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.
I have been a qualified solicitor for approximately 30 years with a clean claims history and have been refused acceptance on the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel with no explanation. Am I not entitled to know why?
Participation on the lender's panel of conveyancers is at the absolute
discretion of the the lender. The days of open panels are now long
gone. Many lenders reserve the right to accept or reject any
application without giving any reason. You should check your original
application to join the Astra Mortgages conveyancing panel
to see if you are entitled to a reason.
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 Astra Mortgages Conveyancing Panel
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Average number of days to register title including a charge in favour of Astra Mortgages
This information relates to purchase only and not remortgages.
| Year | Days* |
|---|---|
| 2024 | [no data] |
| 2023 | [no data] |
| 2022 | [no data] |
| 2021 | [no data] |
| 2020 | [no data] |
| 2019 | [no data] |
* Data aggregated from sources including COMPLETIONmonitor
Other related topics:
- CQS policy templates and procedures for accredited Astra Mortgages Firms
- Draft Report on Title precedent for Astra Mortgages borrowers
- Draft Anti Money Laundering PolicyTemplate for Astra Mortgages panel firms to consider
- Dealing with Lender Policy Template panel for CQS accredited firms on the Astra Mortgages lender panel
- Buy-to-Let help for Astra Mortgages
- Consent-to-Let help for Astra Mortgages
- Contractor Mortgages with Astra Mortgages
