Nationwide Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

The CML Part II requirements of Nationwide Building Society are silent on this. Most mortgage companies address the issue of file retention via their Terms of panel appointment where they generally provide that for evidential purposes, the firm must keep the file for a minimum six years from the date of the mortgage. Data imagining is normally suitable compliance with this requirement. Many lenders point out in that it is the practice of some fraudsters to demand the conveyancing file on completion in order to destroy evidence that may later be used against them. It is therefore important to retain these documents to protect Nationwide Building Society’s interest. To be absolutely sure of Nationwide Building Society requirements in this regard please check the Terms and Conditions of Nationwide Building Society’s conveyancing panel membership.

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 Nationwide Building Society conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

Full disciplinary history for each conveyancing solicitor

Number of lender conveyancing panels the firm is currently on

Full career history for each solicitor including admission date to the relevant Law Society

SRA or equivalent regulator registration number where applicable

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

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.

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

Areas of Law covered by the firm

Whether any lender has ever made a claim against the firm’s PII cover

top-up split and history of any refusals

As is the case with the Law Society the Council of Licensed Conveyancers has begun dialogue with lenders 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 Nationwide Building Society as well as the CML.

You will be aware of the trend in recent years for lenders such as Nationwide Building Society 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 Nationwide Building Society panel. The situation that you find yourself in is where your client’s purchaser has his/her own lawyer and Nationwide Building Society 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 Nationwide Building Society’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 Nationwide Building Society. You will no doubt be required to undertake directly to Nationwide Building Society’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 Nationwide Building Society conveyancing panel.

We would recommend that you 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 negatively affect your application but gives the CQS team viability as to what has gone on.

You need to communicate with Nationwide Building Society to obtain standard documents. The The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook contains an explicit question for banks to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Nationwide Building Society in their Part 2’s state: Don’t forget to disclose the firm’s Nationwide Building Society conveyancing panel reference.