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Astra Mortgages Conveyancing Lender Panel Compliance Tool

Looking for information about your firm's panel status?

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How can my firm apply to be on the Astra Mortgages Conveyancing Panel?
Check your firm’s panel Status
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How can my firm be reinstated onto the Astra Mortgages Conveyancing Panel?
Check your firm’s panel Status

Lexsure’s COMPLETIONmonitor is web-based pre- and post-completion checklist for residential conveyancing lawyers. It is supported by professional indemnity insurers. COMPLETIONmonitor is a unique risk management tool.

This system facilitates the way you can demonstrate to lender panels that you are, and can stay fully compliant with their requirements, with automatic updates on Astra Mortgages’s changes. While using this technology is not a prerequisite for Astra Mortgages , demonstrating you can stay up to date with Astra Mortgages’s Handbook requirements is a helpful support to your panel application and, more importantly, protect your firm’s panel status.

COMPLETIONmonitor creates real-time alerts, automatically produces regulatory and CQS reports, and will enhance your firm's efficiency. It is also user friendly, cost-effective and, for many firms, results in reduced PII premiums.

Find a Law Firm approved by Astra Mortgages

Banks and building societies often change their requirements. The BSA instructions from Astra Mortgages are not guidelines, they are instructions from a client. As with many clients, instructions can change - and they do change, over time:

A Timeline of Policy Changes


Since 2010, Astra Mortgages has made 61 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the BSA Requirements.
That equates to a section change every 44.8 days. In total, 49% of the sections of the BSA Requirements for Astra Mortgages have been changed since 26/1/2010.

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ASTRA mortgages Solicitor Panel Sample Enquires to our Call Center from members of the public

My Conveyancer is not on the ASTRA mortgages Approved Panel. Can I still continue with my family solicitor even though they are excluded from the ASTRA mortgages list of approved lawyers?
You will need to have a conveyancer complete the legal work required when you take out a ASTRA mortgages mortgage to buy your property. They’ll carry out all the necessary legal checks on the property, make sure that you’re properly registered as the owner and ensure that all the necessary mortgage documentation is in place. You can instruct a conveyancing firm of your choice. However, if the firm selected is not a member of the ASTRA mortgages conveyancing panel additional costs will be incurred as separate legal representation will be required by ASTRA mortgages. Conveyancing panel applications can be submitted, so if your conveyancer has not previously applied for membership they can do so.
Can you help?. For no fault of my lawyer but, my purchase conveyancing has been going on for months. The Local Authority Search from ASTRA mortgages was dated random date and we have agreed a date for me to move into the property on 6. My solicitor informs me that as she is on the ASTRA mortgages conveyancing panel she needs to reorder the searches as they are no longer acceptable to the lender.
One of the many conditions to being on the ASTRA mortgages approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook Part 2 obligations (last updated for this lender on ASTRA mortgages)which specifies that a local authority search be not more than half a year old. You should nevertheless ask your lawyer to check whether something called ‘search validation’ indemnity insurance is acceptable to ASTRA mortgages.
Whilst your website is a good idea there are many lawyers listed near Leeds on the ASTRA mortgages conveyancing panel. It would be a lot more helpful if you could recommend a specific firm on the conveyancing panel for ASTRA mortgages ?
We do not recommend specific firms as the right firm for you depends on where your priorities lie. For example you may require a local firm with local knowledge or you might be looking for the low cost conveyancing. We recommend that you speak to 3 or 4 lawyers listed before you make your choice..
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my lawyer’s firm is suspended from the ASTRA mortgages Conveyancing panel before the moving date as agreed at exchange of contracts?
The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have ti instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by the regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
My wife and I have arranged a further advance on our mortgage from ASTRA mortgages as we wish to carry out a loft conversion to our home. Do we need to appoint a solicitor on the ASTRA mortgages conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?
ASTRA mortgages would not normally appoint firms on their approved list of lawyers to deal with such a matter. If they did require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the ASTRA mortgages panel
I am about to exchange contracts on a purchase with a mortgage from ASTRA mortgages. The report from my solicitor mentions that ASTRA mortgages could withdraw their offer before completion. Is this right?
Lenders such as ASTRA mortgages can revoke their mortgage offer although this rarely happens. In the unlikely event that ASTRA mortgages withdraw their offer they may or may not inform you or the lawyer as to their reasoning. There are many potential reasons but here are a number of examples:
  • ASTRA mortgages may amend or withdraw an offer if the ASTRA mortgages conveyancing panel solicitor is unable to confirm compliance with any of the conditions of the mortgage offer or if any of the terms of the mortgage offer cannot be satisfied
  • Many mortgage offers have an expiry date. Your lawyer should check this. ASTRA mortgages may amend or withdraw an offer before the end of its validation period if an offer extension is requested and following a re-evaluation of the property the value of the security is below a level which is acceptable to them.
  • Where the lender has to take account a recent change in law
  • If the lender reasonably suspects that the applicant, borrower, mortgagor or guarantor is involved in any criminal or fraudulent activity, including trading in illegal drugs or other substances, theft, robbery, deception or other serious offences, or if the applicant borrower, mortgagor or guarantor has a conviction for any serious criminal offence, including theft, deception, fraud, robbery or trade in illegal drugs or other substances;
  • If the solicitor on the ASTRA mortgages conveyancing panel acting for the applicant, borrower, mortgagor or guarantor cannot comply with ASTRA mortgages ‘s instructions
I currently have a mortgage with with ASTRA mortgages. Conveyancing was finalised a year ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform ASTRA mortgages?
Your original mortgage agreement with ASTRA mortgages will provide that you need their approval before renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of ASTRA mortgages’s mortgage conditions. It may be that ASTRA mortgages will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact ASTRA mortgages directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a ASTRA mortgages conveyancing panel lawyer.

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