Ecology Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

The requirements to join the Ecology Building Society conveyancing panel is likely to be fairly detailed and is unlikely to include signing up to LENDERmonitor alerts.

The Scottish Law Society has suggested 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 Ecology Building Society conveyancing panel. The suggestion 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 moneysavingexpert.com

As is the case with the Law Society the CLC has begun discussions with banks and their representative bodies to see whether and how the risks that lenders wish to mitigate could be addressed through the regulatory framework rather than via ad hoc arrangements that can differ from lender to lender. It is likely that that the CLC have been in touch with lenders such as Ecology Building Society in the recent past.

The majority of lenders do not operate a specific buy to let conveyancing panel but we are hearing about a few that do. We do not know what the position is with Ecology Building Society as at todays date. If you're about to receive instructions from a client on a buy to let purchase with a mortgage from Ecology Building Society we suggest that you call Ecology Building Society to check the position.

In this situation please clarify on the application what action you have taken to find out the reasons behind cancellation of your Ecology Building Society panel status. In particular please provide details if you have received communications from the lender. E.G. before termination of your panel membership did you receive any letters or calls from the lender advising you as to their reasons?

You should contact Ecology Building Society to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook contains a specific section for lenders to enumerate who to contact to obtain standard documents. Ecology Building Society in their Part 2’s state: It is likely that you will need to quote your Ecology Building Society solicitors panel reference.