Birmingham Midshires Conveyancing Lender Panel Compliance Tool

COMPLETIONmonitor is an online pre- and post-completion checklist for residential conveyancing lawyers. Supported by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and PI insurers such as AmTrust. COMPLETIONmonitor is a unique risk mitigation tool.

This software assists the way you can demonstrate to lender panels that you are, and can remain fully compliant with their requirements, with notifications given on Birmingham Midshires’s changes. Notwithstanding that using the software is not a prerequisite for Birmingham Midshires , demonstrating you can stay up to date with Birmingham Midshires’s Handbook requirements is an excellent support to your application to their lender panel and, more importantly, safeguard your firm’s panel status.

The system creates real-time alerts, automatically produces regulatory and CQS reports, and will increase your firm's efficiency. In addition it is user friendly, cost-effective and, for many firms, leads to a PII saving.

Find a Law Firm approved by Birmingham Midshires

Banks and building societies frequently vary their requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements from Birmingham Midshires 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 2008, Birmingham Midshires has made 314 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the CML Handbook.
That equates to a section change every 8.7 days. In total, 45% of the sections of P2 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Birmingham Midshires have been changed since 15/12/2008.

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Recent Changes Include

# Date Assoc. Changes Related To
17.2.1a 24/09/2018 CML
Redemption Payments
Where do solicitors and conveyancers send the discharge and repayment remittance in relation to Birmingham Midshires mortgages ?
17.2.1a 15/03/2018 CML
Redemption Payments
Where do solicitors and conveyancers send the discharge and repayment remittance in relation to Birmingham Midshires mortgages ?
6.11.1 28/04/2017 CML
Conveyancing Searches: Redevelopments and Road Proposals
Contact details at Birmingham Midshires for conveyancing panel lawyers to used where Birmingham Midshires needs to be notified where property is affected by redevelopment or road proposals.
Obstruction of Access Indemnity Insurance
17.2.1a 18/04/2017 CML
Redemption Payments
Where do solicitors and conveyancers send the discharge and repayment remittance in relation to Birmingham Midshires mortgages ?
9.1 18/04/2017 CML
Defective Title Insurance
Birmingham Midshires clarification to panel lawyers clarification as to whether Birmingham Midshires need to be sent the indemnity insurance policy
Adverse Possession Indemnity Insurance Possessory Title Indemnity Insurance Missing Deeds Indemnity Insurance Defective Title Indemnity Insurance
5.14.11 13/04/2017 CML
Leasehold Conveyancing
Birmingham Midshires approved lawyers leasehold conveyancing requirements : acceptability of indemnity insurance where the terms of the lease are unsatisfactory
Defective Lease Indemnity Insurance
5.14.12 13/04/2017 CML
Leasehold Conveyancing
Birmingham Midshires approved lawyers leasehold conveyancing requirements : requirement as to whether a clear ground rent/service charge receipt needs to be sent to them
5.5.3b 13/04/2017 CML
Planning Permissions
Birmingham Midshires approved lawyers clarification as to whether they need to send an original/copy of any planning permissions
Lack of Planning Permission Indemnity Insurance
5.5.3d 13/04/2017 CML
Certificates of Lawful Use
Birmingham Midshires approved lawyers clarification as to whether they need to send any certificates of lawful use or development/established use certificates
Lack of Planning Permission Indemnity Insurance
5.9.1 13/04/2017 CML
Commonhold
Birmingham Midshires approved lawyers clarification as to whether they lend where the title is commonhold

Last update 15/11/2019

Q and A’s regarding the Birmingham Midshires Solicitor Panel from members of the public

I need to swap lawyers as my lawyer is not on the Birmingham Midshires panel of conveyancing solicitors. Is it advisable to appoint a new law firm?
If you haven't yet instructed a solicitor to do anything for you and have just received quotes, you're perfectly free to choose a different solicitor to carry out your work for you. The best way is to get recommendations from friends or family who have actually used the solicitor or conveyancer you're considering.
Our solicitor has discovered a problem with the lease for the apartment we are buying. The seller’s lawyers have put forward title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will pay for it. Our lawyer says that as he is on the Birmingham Midshires conveyancing panel he must check that the lender is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is Birmingham Midshires?
The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and Birmingham Midshires are the client. A precondition to being on the Birmingham Midshires approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Birmingham Midshires). The CML Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects will the lease so that Birmingham Midshires can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected . Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.
Do I have to have a meeting at the offices of the Birmingham Midshires conveyancing panel solicitor to sign the mortgage deed? If so, I will instruct a firm who offer conveyancing in Manchester so that I can pop in to their offices if necessary.
Most conveyancing panel lawyers for Birmingham Midshires undertake all of the work via the post, internet or over the phone. This means that they can undertake your Conveyancing Transaction no matter where you live in England or Wales. However you should check if you can still book an appointment to go into appointed conveyancing lawyer if you prefer.
My grandfather passed away 10 months ago and as sole heir and executor was left the property. The house had a relatively small loan left on it of around £5k. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Birmingham Midshires , pay off the mortgage etc. Is this allowed?
If you intend to re-mortgage then Birmingham Midshires will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Birmingham Midshires conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Birmingham Midshires conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Birmingham Midshires mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
The mortgage over my property is with Birmingham Midshires. Conveyancing was finalised 12 months ago. Should I wish to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Birmingham Midshires?
Birmingham Midshires must be informed of your intention in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Birmingham Midshires’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Birmingham Midshires will permit you to let 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 Birmingham Midshires directly. You need not do this via a Birmingham Midshires conveyancing panel solicitor.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on a house. My mortgage broker suggested a solicitor I paid an upfront payment of 200. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Birmingham Midshires conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Birmingham Midshires panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
My husband and I are taking a long lease of a 1st floor apartment in Hendon. Conveyancing solicitors in Hendon will soon beinstructed. My mothersuggested that we enquire that the property lawyer in Hendon is on the Birmingham Midshires solicitors panel. Surely I don't need to do this, do I?
It is not that case that all Hendon conveyancing solicitors are on the Birmingham Midshires conveyancing panel. 5 people a month use our search tool to locate a Hendon conveyancing practitioner on the on the Birmingham Midshires solicitors pane.