Banks and Clients Solicitor Panel Sample Enquires to our Call Center from members of the public
My fiance and I are FTBs. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Banks and Clients have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit of a mortgage it is usual for the purchaser's solicitors to also act for the purchaser's lender.
In order to act for a bank or building society a law firm has to be on that lender's conveyancing panel. An application has to be made by the law firm to the lender to become a member of the lender's panel and there are increasingly strict criteria which the firm has to satisfy and indeed some lenders now require their panel members to be part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyers should contact Banks and Clients and see if they can apply for membership of the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Banks and Clients will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Much to my surprise my solicitor is asking me for personal identification documents saying that this is part of his requirements as a conveyancer on the Banks and Clients Conveyancing panel. Am I being spun a yarn?
Due to Money Laundering Regulations your conveyancing lawyer is duty bound to confirm positively your identification when entering into a business relationship with you. It is a criminal offense if your lawyer not do this. If you do not provide ID early in the transaction the solicitor must refuse to act for you. It’s unlikely a lawyer will turn you away if you come to the first meeting without relevant ID but you will have to produce it at some point so you might as well bring it with you to the initial meeting so the lawyer can tick the ID verification box and start sorting out the conveyancing straight away. If you are getting a mortgage with Banks and Clients your lawyer also has to check ID documents to satisfy Banks and Clients
What tools are available to find a local solicitor on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 20 kilometers to meet the conveyancer.
Feel free to make use of the find a conveyancing panel tool on this website. Please choose the lender and your location and you will see a number of lawyer located nearest you. Alternatively you can type in the name of your proposed law firm and see if they are listed as being on the Banks and Clients solicitor panel.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my lawyer’s firm is suspended from the Banks and Clients Conveyancing panel prior to the completion date?
First, this is a very rare occurrence. 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.
I previously instructed online conveyancers located in London who are on the Banks and Clients solicitor panel. They are now charging me a separate fee of £150 for dealing with the Banks and Clients mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by Banks and Clients?
Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your solicitors can charge a fee for this. This fee is not set by Banks and Clients but by your lawyers. Some firms on the Banks and Clients will charge an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
I was thinking of purchasing my friend’s property. Assuming we can agree a figure, what’s the best way to proceed? I plan to obtain a mortgage with Banks and Clients. Is there anyway to cut out the solicitors to save on the costs? My dad reckons back in the day he did a lot of it himself, just went into the land registry office and providing them with the info they needed himself
If you are getting a mortgage with Banks and Clients involved you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel. We would not encourage you to both use the same solicitors' firm. There are clear conflict of interest issues and it's not going to make a huge difference to the speed of the overall process. So as not to hold things us you should pass on your solicitors details to Banks and Clients. Feel free to use our search tool to look for a licensed conveyancer or solicitor on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel.
We expect to receive a DIP from Banks and Clients this week so we can work out what to offer on a property we like as otherwise we are dependent on web based calculators (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc).Do the Banks and Clients recommend a solicitor on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel, or is it better to go independently
You will need to appoint solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and the Banks and Clients through the process.