The Chorley & District Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

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:

You must also comply with the terms and conditions of your The Chorley & District Building Society solicitor panel appointment.

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

The Chorley & District Building Society make no specific obligation to carry out any of the searches listed. The BSA Mortgage Instructions simply states that ‘you must ensure that any other searches which may be appropriate to the particular property, taking into account its locality and other features are carried out’.

Remember that most ‘less usual searches’ (as described in the Law Society’s Conveyancing Handbook) are not optional as far as The Chorley & District Building Society are concerned if they are ‘appropriate’. Most lenders will not require environmental searches (you should Check the The Chorley & District Building Society Specific Requirements of BSA Handbook to be sure), but you are obliged to explain risks and availability to the borrower.

Ground stability, Plansearch,flood searches as well as the searches listed in the question are optional – but only to the extent that you have allowed the borrower client to make an informed choice. Regardless of whether there is a mortgage, If you have not advised the client that these (and other) searches are available and what risks they cover, then you will be liable if the client suffers loss through not conducting one.

Although not necessarily published, lenders have varying criteria . We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the The Chorley & District Building Society conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

• Full career history for each licensed conveyancer including registration date with Council of Licensed Conveyancers
• Whether the firm is able to operate in other jurisdictions
• 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
• Full career history for each solicitor including admission date to the relevant Law Society
• List of all Licensed Conveyancers within firm
• Conveyancer client account(s) details
• List of all those who fund the firm, including non-lawyers if applicable
• The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing purchase and remortgage

We can't comment specifically on The Chorley & District Building Society. Many major lenders are now introducing ‘file auditing’ as standard practice in relation to completed matters. This raises questions of confidentiality in relation to the buyer client and the purpose to which the results of such audits will be put. The starting point is to remember that the file does not belong to your firm, it belongs to the ‘client’. But, of course, we will normally have two clients – the buyer and the lender - and you will owe a duty of confidentiality to each. So basically, you have to separate the file and just send the lender the parts solely relating to themselves. But, of course, as this will basically be correspondence with the lender, mortgage instructions etc.

Check with your Compliance Officer, but a firm should not send the complete conveyancing file without the borrower client’s express consent – and if he is in dispute with the lender he is hardly likely to agree. However, if the lender can establish a prima facie case of fraud, then you may be under an obligation to disclose the whole file.

The emerging convention is that lenders are including an authority to disclose in loan application forms to counter this problem. Mortgage Express v Sawali, 2010 EWHC 3054 (Ch) indicates that such provisions valid? Please click here for more information about that case.

In order to be on the The Chorley & District Building Society conveyancing panel solicitors have to complete an application form and agree Terms and Conditions. A sample of 5 conditions that we see amongst many lenders Terms (but not necessarily The Chorley & District Building Society) are as follows:

• To carry out our instructions with reasonable care and skill, ensuring that all employees carrying out mortgage work on our behalf are qualified and competent to do so
• To keep us informed of the reasons for any delay in your being able to send the title deeds and documents we require to us within 3 months of completion or evidence of proof of registration within that period. (We will send reminders if the deeds have not been received but will not acknowledge receipt of deeds.)
• You have the consent of all borrowers to apply for the deeds, before making any request for deeds. We will accept your request for deeds on the understanding that you have obtained such consent. If this is not the case then you should advise our Deeds Services Department in writing when you make your request
• If you are a sole practitioner, to arrange for appropriate locum cover from our panel where necessary. Your locum must be a member of the Conveyancing panel.
• To quote on all communications with us relating to registration issues, whether by telephone or in writing, the panel number that we provide for each practising address and the mortgage account or application number for the mortgage concerned.

The BSA Mortgage Instructions don't specifically deal with Solar Panels but it would be prudent as approved solicitors for The Chorley & District Building Society to raise the issue with them (as you would if the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook applied). In any event you need to raise the appropriate questions for your buyer client.

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:

• Santander Conveyancing Panel
• National Westminster Bank Conveyancing Panel
• Royal Bank of Scotland Conveyancing Panel
• HSBC Conveyancing Panel
• Lloyds Conveyancing Panel