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Darlington Building Society Conveyancing Lender Panel Compliance Tool

Looking for information about your firm's panel status?

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Is my firm on the
Darlington Building Society Conveyancing Panel?
Check your firm’s panel Status
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How can my firm apply to be on the Darlington Building Society Conveyancing Panel?
Check your firm’s panel Status
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How can my firm be reinstated onto the Darlington Building Society Conveyancing Panel?
Check your firm’s panel Status

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

This system assists the way you can demonstrate to lender panels that you are, and can remain fully compliant with their instructions, with automatic updates on Darlington Building Society’s changes. While utilising the software is not a prerequisite for Darlington Building Society , demonstrating you can stay up to date with Darlington Building Society’s Handbook requirements is an excellent support to your panel application and, more importantly, safeguard your firm’s panel status.

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

Find a Law Firm approved by Darlington Building Society

Lenders often change their requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements from Darlington Building Society 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, Darlington Building Society has made 258 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the UK Finance Handbook.
That equates to a section change every 10.6 days. In total, 60% of the sections of P2 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Darlington Building Society have been changed since 15/12/2008.

To find out more about lender panel compliance,
Book a Personalised Demo

Frequently asked questions relating to the Darlington Building Society Solicitor Panel from members of the public

On what basis could a law firm be excluded from the Darlington Building Society solicitor panel?
A survey recently commissioned by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority found that three quarters of solicitor practices had been excluded from a lender panel. The top reasons in order are :
  1. lack of transactions
  2. the lawyer is a sole practitioner
  3. as part of the HSBC panel reduction
  4. regulatory contact by SRA
  5. accidental removal. We are not aware of the specific or common criteria for removal by Darlington Building Society
can you help? My conveyancer is assuring me that she is duty-bound to order a Local Authority search stemming from the fact that the firm are on the Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel. Is my lawyer correct?
Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. As you are taking a mortgage with Darlington Building Society your lawyer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your lawyer would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of Darlington Building Society’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook requirements last updated Darlington Building Society. even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out a local authority search.
Whilst your website is a good idea there are many lawyers listed near Hackney on the Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel. It would be a lot more helpful if you could recommend a specific firm on the Darlington Building Society approved panel?
We are not in the business of recommending one firm above another 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..
My solicitors in London have advised me that no longer have my conveyancing file. At the time of my purchase I took out a mortgage with Darlington Building Society. Is it case that being on the Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel they need to have retained the file for a number of years?
Different lenders have different requirements but many of the Terms and Conditions of Conveyancing Panel Appointment require the file to be held for a period of 6 years. That being said we have not seen a copy of the Darlington Building Society Conveyancing Panel Terms. It might be worth you contacting Darlington Building Society directly.
We are getting a further advance on our mortgage from Darlington Building Society as we wish to carry out alterations or improvements our home. Do we need to appoint a solicitor on the Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?
Darlington Building Society do not ordinarily instruct firms on their conveyancing panel 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 Darlington Building Society panel
I was thinking of purchasing my friend’s property. Once we agree a price, what’s the best way to proceed? I hope to get a mortgage with Darlington Building Society. Is it possible to avoid using solicitors to save on the costs? My father said that years ago it was possible to take the documents into the local Land Registry office and they did the rest
If you are getting a mortgage with Darlington Building Society involved you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Darlington Building Society 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 Darlington Building Society. Feel free to use our search tool to look for a licensed conveyancer or solicitor on the Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel.
My offer on house has been accepted, but there is a chain. The vendors have offered on somewhere, but not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other properties booked. My conveyancing solicitor has been instructed. What do I do now? When should I get the mortgage app going with Darlington Building Society?
It is usual to have concerns where there is a chain as you are unlikely to want to be too out of pocket too early (mortgage application is approx £1k, then survey/valuation, conveyancing search costs, etc). First you should check that your solicitor is on the Darlington Building Society conveyancing panel. As to the next stages this very much depends on the circumstances of your case, desire for this property and on the state of the market. In a hot mortgage some buyers would pally for the mortgage with Darlington Building Society and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.

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