Examples of recent questions relating to the Chesham Building Society Solicitor Panel from members of the public
My wife and I are novices when it comes to buying a property. Within the 48 hours our conveyancer has forwarded the sale agreement to sign with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Chesham Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. Please explain?
If you are buying a property with the assistance 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 Chesham Building Society and see if they can apply for membership of the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Chesham Building Society will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My property lawyer is asking me for personal identification documents asserting that this forms part of his retainer as a solicitor on the Chesham Building Society Conveyancing panel. Is this right?
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 Chesham Building Society your lawyer also has to check ID documents to satisfy Chesham Building Society
How do I find a local solicitor on the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 25 kilometers to meet the lawyer.
You can use the find a conveyancing panel search on this page. 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 Chesham Building Society solicitor panel.
Can you clarify what the consequences are if my lawyer’s firm is removed from the Chesham Building Society Solicitor panel prior to completion?
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 at a cost.
We have agreed to purchase a house.One unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Chesham Building Society have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
Given that your lender is Chesham Building Society your lawyer must to check the Chesham Building Society conveyancing instructions contained in the Part of CML Handbook for Chesham Building Society . The CML Handbook contains minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to Chesham Building Society where a lease does not meet these requirements. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales. Requirements for Scotland are due in the near future.
Planning on purchasing a flat with a mortgage with Chesham Building Society. I have received an online quote from a licensed conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Building Society if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel. I wanted to make sure it means there will be no additional fees for dealing with the mortgage.
They are simply saying that the cost for acting for the lender is included in the fee being quoted. It is worth you checking that they are on the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel
I had an offer accepted on a house on the 20th March 2014, valuation was booked five days after, all came back fine. Solicitor appointed, so the only thing outstanding was my mortgage offer. Having made daily calls to Chesham Building Society and chasing them on my offer I have now been told that my offer will not be issued unless the lawyer is on the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel. Are Chesham Building Society entitled to hold back the Mortgage pending the lawyer being on the approved list?
A lender would not issue an offer until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Chesham Building Society to deal with your lawyers application to be on the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitors will be accepted.