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RBS- First Active 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 RBS- First Active Conveyancing Panel?
Check your firm’s panel Status
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How can my firm be reinstated onto the RBS- First Active Conveyancing Panel?
Check your firm’s panel Status

Lexsure’s COMPLETIONmonitor is an online pre- and post-completion checklist for property lawyers. It is supported by professional indemnity insurers. COMPLETIONmonitor is a unique risk management tool.

This system is the only way you can demonstrate to lender panels that you are, and can stay fully compliant with their requirements, with alerts on RBS- First Active’s changes. Notwithstanding that utilising the software is not a condition for acceptance on the RBS- First Active panel, demonstrating you can remain up to date with RBS- First Active’s Handbook requirements is an excellent support to your application to their lender panel and, more importantly, protect your firm’s panel status.

The software generates real-time alerts, automatically produces compliance and CQS reports, and will enhance 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 RBS- First Active

Lenders frequently change their requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements from RBS- First Active 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, RBS- First Active has made 223 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the UK Finance Handbook.
That equates to a section change every 12.2 days. In total, 53% of the sections of P2 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for RBS- First Active have been changed since 15/12/2008.

To find out more about lender panel compliance,
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RBS- First Active Conveyancing Panel : Questions and Answers from members of the public

My Conveyancer has never been on on the RBS- First Active Solicitor Panel. Can I still use my family solicitor notwithstanding that they are not on the RBS- First Active approved list?
You have a number of options available to you here:
  1. Carry on with your preferred lawyers but RBS- First Active will need to instruct a lawyer on the RBS- First Active conveyancing panel. This will result in additional cost and potential delay.
  2. Get a new solicitor to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are on the RBS- First Active conveyancing panel.
  3. Urge your lawyer to apply to join the RBS- First Active lender panel
Can you help?. For no fault of my lawyer but, my purchase conveyancing has been going on for months. The Local Authority Search from RBS- First Active was issued random date and we have agreed a date for me to move into the property on 10 days inc Day of week eg. Mon. My lawyer has advised that as she is on the RBS- First Active conveyancing panel she needs to reorder the searches as they are no longer acceptable to the lender.
A precondition to being on the RBS- First Active approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook Part 2 obligations (last updated for this lender on RBS- First Active)which states that a local authority search be not more than 6 months old. You should nevertheless ask your lawyer to check whether something called ‘search validation’ indemnity insurance is acceptable to RBS- First Active.
How do I find a local solicitor on the RBS- First Active conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 20 miles 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 RBS- First Active solicitor panel.
I am buying a new build flat and getting a mortgage with RBS- First Active. How practical is it for me to do the conveyancing?
Leaving aside the complexities and merits of DIY conveyancing you will have to appoint a solicitor on the RBS- First Active conveyancing panel to look after their interests. Most people therefore find it easier to let the solicitor act for them and the lender. Furthermore there is minimal cost savings to made in you doing to conveyancing for yourself and another lawyer conducting the conveyancing for the lender. Please feel free to use the search tool to find a lawyer on the RBS- First Active conveyancing panel in your location.
Can you point me to a directory of RBS- First Active panel conveyancers on the CML Handbook Website?
No. There is no such tool on the Council of Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association websites. Very few lenders make their panel listings available online.
Do conveyancing solicitors on the RBS- First Active conveyancing panel work on a no sale no fee basis?
In the main there are no requirements by lenders for their firms to operate on a no-sale-no-fee basis. There a small number of lenders who operate a very restricted conveyancing panel managed by a third party company (often termed in the industry as a ‘gatekeeper’). That third party may impose certain conditions such as non-sale-no fee on the panel firms. If you require this as a condition of your conveyancing then you should check with the conveyancing firm that this is part of their service
The mortgage over my property is with RBS- First Active. Conveyancing was finalised months ago. Should I wish 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 RBS- First Active?
You must advise RBS- First Active in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of RBS- First Active’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies 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 RBS- First Active directly. You need not do this via a RBS- First Active conveyancing panel solicitor.

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