FAQs : The Leeds Building Society Conveyancing Panel from members of the public
My fiance and I are first time buyers. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Leeds Building Society have this morning contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
When purchasing a property with the benefit 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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitors should contact Leeds Building Society and see if they can apply for membership of the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Leeds Building Society will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Much to my surprise my conveyancing solicitor is asking me for personal identification documents saying that this forms part of his obligations as a conveyancer on the Leeds Building Society Solicitor panel. Am I being spun a yarn?
Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to verify the identity of the person or body they are dealing with before they can accept their conveyancing business. The Terms and Conditions that you need to sign will no doubt confirm this. Your lawyer is right that Leeds Building Society also require certain documents to be viewed. If a you refuse to provide ID verification documents, your conveyancer would not be able to accept instructions from you. Your lawyer also has obligations to obtain certain documents in accordance with Leeds Building Society CML Handbook requirements last updated on Leeds Building Society
What tools are available to find a local solicitor on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 20 miles to meet the solicitor.
You can use the find a conveyancing panel tool 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 Leeds Building Society solicitor panel.
I was supposed to complete on my first house yesterday. My solicitor is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel but has moved offices 8 weeks ago and had not informed Leeds Building Society of their new address. Leeds Building Society has locked down the release of mortgage funds as the information from the solicitors isn't correct.
This is a rare situation indeed. The majority of lender Terms of Conveyancing Panel Appointment specifically oblige the solicitor to inform the lender of an address change. Your solicitor needs to treat this with the utmost urgency. Do speak with or register your concern with the senior partner (assuming he or she is not your direct lawyer). Most lenders would be reasonable in this situation and expedite the resolution of this issue. It may be prudent to enlist the help of your local Leeds Building Society branch or your mortgage broker to see if they can help.
I currently have a mortgage with with Leeds Building Society. Conveyancing has been completed a year ago. If I am intending to rent out my property and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a buy-to-let mortgage or inform Leeds Building Society?
Your original mortgage agreement with Leeds Building Society will provide that you need their approval in advance of renting your property as this is likely to be a breach of Leeds Building Society’s mortgage conditions. In many cases banks or building societies 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 Leeds Building Society directly. You need not do this via a Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel firm.
It is not clear whether my mortgage offer requires a lease extension . I have called into my local branch Leeds Building Society on various occasions and was told they are content with the situation and they would lend. My solicitor - who is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel- telephoned and was told not they would not lend in accordance with their CML Handbook minimum lease term requirements. I simply dont know who is right
Your lawyer has to follow the CML Handbook Part 2 requirements for Leeds Building Society. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that Leeds Building Society will go ahead your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask Leeds Building Society to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the remaining number of years left on the lease.
My offer on house has been accepted, the seller does however have a dependent purchase. The vendors have offered on somewhere, but not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other properties in the pipeline. My conveyancing solicitor has been instructed. What should be my next step? At what point should I appy for the mortgage with Leeds 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 Leeds 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 Leeds Building Society and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.