Stafford Railway Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

The information on this page is designed to keep solicitors and licensed conveyancers abreast of latest requirements changes by Stafford Railway Building Society and to assist in remaining on the Stafford Railway Building Society Approved Conveyancing Solicitors Panel.

Stafford Railway Building Society Solicitor Panel Assistance:

What are the Stafford Railway Building Society conveyancing panel arrangements?
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:

The Society uses Legal Marketing Services Ltd (LMS) for its panel arrangements.

You must also comply with the terms and conditions of your Stafford Railway Building Society solicitor panel appointment.

Does the fact that my practice subscribes to Alerts via this site assist in my application to join the Stafford Railway Building Society conveyancing panel?
The requirements to join the Stafford Railway Building Society conveyancing panel is likely to be fairly detailed and is unlikely to include signing up to LENDERmonitor alerts.
What information is available via COMPLETIONmonitor to assist my application to be on the Stafford Railway Building Society conveyancing panel?
There are many reports available but examples include:
  • Average time frame to register charges at the Land Registry
  • Average time frame to send deeds to the lender (calculated from completion date or title registration)
  • Number of conveyancing cases by lender
  • The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (purchase and remortgage)
  • Average mortgage advance
  • Buy to Let transactions
  • Notification to Lender analysis indicating frequency and nature of disclosures - to include benchmarking analysis against aggregate data
  • Evidence of undertaking logs
  • Current and historic missed priority dates
  • Analysis as to the nature of clients (e.g. seen in person)
Who do building societies accept on their approved solicitor panel?
In the same way that there is a unique Stafford Railway Building Society conveyancing panel most building societies, operate a conveyancing panel for solicitors and other conveyancers that the lender will instruct. Terms and Conditions and criteria for inclusion on a building society conveyancing panel vary from lender-to-lender. Having CQS accreditation may be a requirement.

Institutional lenders, such as a building society, is a client and is entitled to instruct the solicitor or conveyancer of its choosing (who, in turn, is free to accept or refuse instructions). Therefore, if lender and borrower cannot agree which solicitor or conveyancer should represent them jointly, they would usually proceed on a separate representation basis.

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 a number of lender panels including the Stafford Railway Building Society conveyancing panel. We have Terms and Conditions of appointment which we are duty bound to comply with. Should I reference these Conditions?
The key here is the caveat ‘more onerous’.

You have to try and take an objective view as to whether the Terms relating to the Stafford Railway Building Society 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 solicitor for nearly 30 years without a single claim against me and have been refused acceptance on the Stafford Railway Building Society 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 Stafford Railway Building Society conveyancing panel to see if you are entitled to a reason.
I rarely receive a copy of a valuation from a lender these days. Do my Stafford Railway Building Society conveyancing panel obligations extend to checking the valuation details where I am acting on a purchase with Stafford Railway Building Society as the Mortgagee?
There are various requirements you need to follow if you wish to comply with your lender client’s instructions as set out in the BSA Mortgage Instructions. (a) You must take reasonable steps to verify that there are no discrepancies between the description of the property as compared to an address that is no longer valid.
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 Stafford Railway Building Society Approved Conveyancing Solicitors Panel

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Average number of days to register title including a charge in favour of Stafford Railway Building Society
This information relates to purchase only and not remortgages.
YearDays*
2026 [no data]
2025 [no data]
2024 [no data]
2023 [no data]
2022 [no data]
2021 [no data]
* Data aggregated from sources including COMPLETIONmonitor