Furness Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

The CML is not a regulator and therefore do not investigate complaints against lenders. You can of course contact Lexsure to see if we can help.

Criteria differ from lender to lender. We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the Furness Building Society conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

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

top-up split and history of any refusals

Structure of firm and, where applicable, its group

Charge registration history

List of fee-earners who are foreign qualified

Number of lender conveyancing panels the firm is currently on

and Conveyancing Quality Scheme

Full disciplinary history for each conveyancing solicitor

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

Whether the firm is able to operate in other jurisdictions

There are various requirements are to followed 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 Furness Building Society immediately. (II) 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 Furness Building Society’s mortgage offer are correct. If they are not, please let Furness Building Society know as soon as possible as it will be necessary for Furness Building Society to check with the valuer whether the valuation needs to be revised. Furness Building Society conveyancing panel solicitors are not expected to assume the role of valuer. Furness Building Society are simply trying to ensure that the valuer has valued the property based on correct information. (III) Furness 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. Furness Building Society recommend that, if we send a copy of a valuation report that Furness 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 survey or structural survey. If you do not receive a copy of the valuation you can always ask for a copy of one from Furness 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 Furness Building Society conveyancing panel

Furness Building Society approved solicitors are bound by the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook 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 Furness Building Society require, the deed of covenant on their behalf. You will need to check Furness Building Society CML Part 2 conditions to see if Furness Building Society 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 Furness Building Society conveyancing panel

Your insurance brokers are your best port of call to address this question. 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 Furness Building Society solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You would be advised to contact Furness Building Society to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook contains a specific inquiry for banks to establish who to contact to obtain standard documents. Furness Building Society in their Part 2’s state: Don’t forget to disclose your Furness Building Society conveyancing panel number.