Vernon BS Conveyancing Panel Information

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

Looking for information about your firm's panel status?

How does my firm apply to be on the Vernon BS Conveyancing Panel Building Society?

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How can my firm be reinstated onto the Vernon BS Conveyancing Panel Building Society?

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Vernon BS Conveyancing Panel Assistance:

What are the Vernon BS conveyancing panel criteria?

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:

Solicitors and licensed conveyancers acting for the Society must have the appropriate professional qualifications, professional indemnity insurance, adequate cover for absence, and properly constituted commercial premises with adequate provision for the secure storage of deeds.

The Society requires the following:

(i) All Solicitor firms must have a minimum of 2 SRA approved managers

(ii) All Licenced Conveyancer firms must have a minimum of 2 Licenced Conveyancers

You must also comply with the terms and conditions of your Vernon BS solicitor panel appointment.

I am on the Vernon BS conveyancing panel. Can I get an archived copy of Vernon BS Specific Requirements from the BSA?

The BSA, as is the case with the CML do not hold data sets of Specific Requirements. The BSA recommend you make a request of Vernon BS direct.

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

The feeling from lenders generally (we can not speak for Vernon BS 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

Vernon BS 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.

What information is available via COMPLETIONmonitor to assist my appeal to be reinstated on the Vernon BS solicitor 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
Disclosure 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)

My firm is on the Vernon BS conveyancing panel. I am dealing with Vernon BS mortgage on a purchase. My borrower client is asking not to disclose an issue to Vernon BS. What do I do in this conflict situation?

When a solicitor is acting for both Vernon BS and borrower there is potential for conflicts to arise. You owe duties to both clients. All information received by you from your client is confidential and cannot be disclosed without the client’s consent.

In your situation, if the purchaser will not consent to the information being passed on to the lender, the solicitor must cease to act for Vernon BS and it may well be prudent for you to cease to act for the purchaser as well. You must not inform Vernon BS of the reason for termination of the retainer over and above the fact that a conflict has arisen. The fact that you can no longer act should alert even the most somnambulistic of lenders that something is wrong with the borrower and/or purchase. The fact that you have disinstructed yourself should not affect your Vernon BS conveyancing panel status.

I have been a sole practitioner for nearly 30 years with a clean claims history and have been refused acceptance on the Vernon BS 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 Vernon BS conveyancing panel to see if you are entitled to a reason.

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 Vernon BS Conveyancing Panel Building Society

Average number of days to register title including a charge in favour of Vernon BS

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

Find solicitors on the Vernon BS panel near you:

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