The Chorley & District Building Society Conveyancing Panel Information

The information on this page is designed to keep solicitors and licensed conveyancers abreast of latest requirements changes by The Chorley & District Building Society and to assist in remaining on the The Chorley & District Building Society Solicitor Panel.

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The Chorley & District Building Society Solicitor Panel Assistance:

What are the The Chorley & District 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:

No set panel but any firm wanting to act for CDBS must meet the specific requirements set out below.

Specific Requirements

1. Law Society or CLC member

2. Minimum of 2 partners or directors

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

An established client of mine is purchasing a new build house for £835,250 in Mill Hill requiring a mortgage advance over GBP 440,000. I am on the The Chorley & District Building Society conveyancing panel but do The Chorley & District Building Society have a separate approved panel when the advance is above 300,000?

Lexsure only know of a couple of lenders that operate a separate approved solicitors panel where the mortgage advance is over a certain level. You should nevertheless check directly with The Chorley & District Building Society. At one stage HSBC would only allow Sole practitioners to act for them where the mortgage was below £150,000. We are not sure if HSBC still operate such a condition. In your case it is best to check with The Chorley & District Building Society

What sort of information are Lenders such as The Chorley & District Building Society are asking for when it comes to applying to be on their approved conveyancing panel?

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

A recent SRA survey reveals that three quarters of solicitors have been removed or threatened with removal from a lender conveyancing panel. The Chorley & District Building Society and other building societies have restricted their panel over the years. Why?

The feeling from lenders generally (we can not speak for The Chorley & District Building Society specifically), is that for too long solicitors have concentrated on their duty of care to their purchasing client, and have paid scant attention to the duty they owe to the lender, whom they conveniently forget is also their client.

Looking from the lenders’ perspective, it has to be said that there are pressures to encourage smaller panels. The Financial Services Authority regards the open panel system as a major contributor to mortgage fraud and negligence cases, and has been leaning on lenders to move to proactive panel management, which is more expensive the larger the panel. Hence it is becoming more common for lenders to charge fees, and/or require extensive form-filling, from would-be panel members

The Chorley & District Building Society and other BSA lenders are in varying stages of reviewing their approach to vetting firms on their conveyancing panels, to ensure their ongoing exposure to unsuitable firms is reduced.

Why has the BSA introduced its own instructions?

The Building Society Association introduced it’s Mortgage Instructions in 2010 to ensure that licensed conveyancers or solicitors on a building society conveyancing panel had full access to a complete set of standardised mortgage instructions.

My PI renewal application this year contained the following question: ‘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 numerous approved panels including the The Chorley & District Building Society conveyancing panel. We have Terms and Conditions of appointment which we have to follow. Do I disclose these these Terms?

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 The Chorley & District 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.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook contains conveyancing instructions for a roof with a solar panel. The Chorley & District Building Society do not seem to have any similar obligations via the BSA Mortgage Instructions. Is this right?

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.

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 The Chorley & District Building Society Solicitor Panel

Average number of days to register title including a charge in favour of The Chorley & District Building Society

This information relates to purchase only and not remortgages.

Year	Days*
2026	[no data]
2025	[no data]
2024	[no data]
2023	[no data]
2022	[no data]
2021	[no data]

* Data aggregated from sources including COMPLETIONmonitor

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Please note that Lexsure Ltd is in no way associated with nor affiliated with Lexsure Solicitors