Ipswich Building Society Conveyancing Lender Panel Compliance Tool

COMPLETIONmonitor is web-based pre- and post-completion checklist for residential conveyancing lawyers. Supported by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and PI insurers. COMPLETIONmonitor is a unique risk management tool.

This system optimises the way you can prove to lender panels that you are, and can remain fully compliant with their requirements, with alerts on Ipswich Building Society’s changes. Notwithstanding that using the tool is not a condition for acceptance on the Ipswich Building Society panel, demonstrating you can stay up to date with Ipswich Building Society’s Handbook requirements is an excellent support to your application to their lender panel and, more importantly, safeguard 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 simply to use, cost-effective and, for many firms, leads to a PII saving.

Find a Law Firm approved by Ipswich Building Society

Lenders frequently change their requirements. The BSA instructions from Ipswich Building Society are not guidelines, they are instructions from a client. As with many clients, instructions can change - and they do change, frequently:

A Timeline of Policy Changes


Since 2010, Ipswich Building Society has made 36 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the BSA Requirements.
That equates to a section change every 75.8 days. In total, 34% of the sections of the BSA Requirements for Ipswich Building Society have been changed since 26/1/2010.

To find out more about lender panel compliance,

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Recent Changes Include

# Date Assoc. Changes Related To
D.13 23/11/2018 BSA
Conveyancing Searches: Personal Searches and/or insurance
Ipswich Building Society approved lawyers clarification as to whether they accept personal searches/insurance and, if yes, the Ipswich Building Society requirements
C.13 27/12/2017 BSA
New Build Conveyancing
Ipswich Building Society approved conveyancer requirements for New Build Conveyancing : Home Warranty Schemes
E.12 21/03/2016 BSA
Mortgage Advance Mechanics
Details as to how Ipswich Building Society pay the mortgage advance to conveyancing panel lawyers
C.10 19/08/2014 BSA
Tenancy Agreements
Does Ipswich Building Society need to be sent a copy of the proposed tenancy?
C.10 04/08/2014 BSA
Tenancy Agreements
Does Ipswich Building Society need to be sent a copy of the proposed tenancy?
C.15 04/08/2014 BSA
New Build Conveyancing
Ipswich Building Society approved conveyancer requirements for New Build Conveyancing : will the Ipswich Building Society proceed if the property does not have the benefit of a new home warranty scheme
C.19 04/08/2014 BSA
Roads and Sewers
Ipswich Building Society requirements for approved lawyers for unadopted roads or sewers
C.20 04/08/2014 BSA
Roads and Sewers
Ipswich Building Society requirements for approved lawyers for unadopted roads or sewers
D.14 04/08/2014 BSA
Conveyancing Searches: Personal Searches and/or insurance
Ipswich Building Society panel lawyers clarification as to whether they accept personal searches/insurance and, if yes, the Ipswich Building Society requirements
D.30 04/08/2014 BSA
Freehold and leasehold owner of multiple flats
Ipswich Building Society approved lawyers clarification as to whether they accept security which comprises a building converted into not more than four flats where the borrower occupies one of those flats and the borrower or another flat owner also owns the freehold of the building and the other flats are subject to long leases?

Last update 25/01/2020

FAQs : The Ipswich Building Society Conveyancing Panel from members of the public

My husband and I are buying a 3 bedroom apartment in Newcastle with a mortgage from Ipswich Building Society. We would like to retain our solicitor but Ipswich Building Society says he's not on their "panel". It seems we have little choice but to instruct one of the Ipswich Building Society panel solicitors or keep our solicitor and pay for one of their panel ones to represent them. This seems very unfair; is there anything we can do?
Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the Ipswich Building Society conveyancing panel. Until recently, most lenders had large numbers of law firms on their panels: a borrower could choose one for themselves, as long as it was on the lender's panel. The lender would then simply instruct the borrower's lawyers to act for the lender, too. You can use your lender's panel lawyers or you could borrow from another lender which does not restrict your choice. Another option that might be available is for your solicitors to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Ipswich Building Society
Our solicitor has identified a problem with the lease for the apartment we are purchasing. The seller’s lawyers have suggested defective title insurance as a workaround. We are happy with insurance and will pay for it. Our lawyer says that as he is on the Ipswich Building Society conveyancing panel he must ensure that the lender is happy with this solution. Are we the client or is Ipswich Building Society?
Just because you have a mortgage offer from Ipswich Building Society does not mean to say that the property will be meet their requirements for the purposes of a mortgage. Your lawyer has to ensure that the lease has to comply with the CML Handbook Requirements. You and Ipswich Building Society are the client. The appropriate lender requirements must be adhered to by the Ipswich Building Society conveyancing panel who has to balance acting for you and Ipswich Building Society
I see that you have a post code search directory listing firms on the Ipswich Building Society conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a commission if I appoint them for my house purchase?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Ipswich Building Society conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to the any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint.
The lawyers that just started acting on my purchase in Newcastle has suddenly shut down. They were on acting for me because I needed a solicitor on the Ipswich Building Society conveyancing panel and my previous lawyer was not. I gave them a cheque for £150 in advance. What are my options?
If you have an estate agent involved then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You should appoint new lawyers that are on the Ipswich Building Society conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new solicitors should be in a position to help
Is the case that all CQS (Conveyancing Quality Scheme) solicitors on the Ipswich Building Society conveyancing panel?
It is true that some banks and building societies now use the accreditation scheme as the starting point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS accreditation however is no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. That being said,the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a pre-requisite for firms wishing to remain on their approved list of firms.
is it true that all solicitor practices on the Ipswich Building Society conveyancing panel overseen by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the Ipswich Building Society conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Many lenders do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers (CLC).
Do most banks operate their own panel of solicitors?
Many lenders do operate a restricted conveyancing panel but a lot of lenders allow any solicitors to join their panel so long as they meet their criteria. Each lender sets their own criteria. For example the Ipswich Building Society conveyancing panel requirements are different to Ipswich Building Society’s conveyancing panel criteria.