Scottish Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

The CML Part II requirements of Scottish Building Society are silent on this. Most lenders address the question of file retention via their Terms and Conditions where they generally provide that for evidential purposes, the firm must keep the file for at least of 6 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 Scottish Building Society’s interest. To be absolutely sure of Scottish Building Society requirements in this regard please check the Terms and Conditions of Scottish Building Society’s conveyancing panel appointment.

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

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

Whether the firm has ever applied for accreditation and the outcome of the application

Full complaints history for each conveyancing solicitor

Whether the firm has ever accepted instructions in respect of property clubs and investment schemes

List of fee-earners who are foreign qualified

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

Summary of annual accounts

Full career history for each licensed conveyancer including registration date with Council of Licensed Conveyancers

Full disciplinary history for each conveyancing solicitor

Charge registration history

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

Scottish Building Society approved solicitors have to comply with 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 Scottish Building Society require, the deed of covenant on their behalf. You will need to check Scottish Building Society CML Part 2 conditions to see if Scottish 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 Scottish 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 Scottish Building Society solicitor panel membership. Please remember that it is always important that you complete your insurance forms accurately.

You would be advised to get in touch with Scottish Building Society to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook has an express section for lenders to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Scottish Building Society in their Part 2’s state: You will need to quote the firm’s Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel number.