National Counties Building Society Conveyancing Panel Sample Enquires to our Call Center from members of the public
My husband and I are hoping to buy a 3 bedroom apartment in Newcastle with a mortgage from National Counties Building Society. We would like to retain our solicitor but National Counties Building Society says she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the National Counties 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?
No, not really. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the National Counties 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. A further alternative is for your lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for National Counties Building Society
Please help. My lawyer is advising me that she is duty-bound to order a Local Authority search as the firm are on the National Counties Building Society approved lawyer panel. The searches cost a lot of money. Can this be avoided?
Unfortunately both you and your lawyer have little choice here. As you are taking a mortgage with National Counties 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 National Counties Building Society’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook requirements last updated National Counties Building Society. even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out a local authority search.
I note that you have a post code search directory listing firms on the National Counties Building Society conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a referral fee if I retain them for my own conveyancing?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the National Counties 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 I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Hendon has without warning closed. They were on acting for me because I needed a firm on the National Counties Building Society conveyancing panel and my family lawyer was not. I gave them a cheque for £150 in advance. What should be my next steps?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. 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 National Counties 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 lawyers should be in a position to help
Is it the case that all solicitors on the National Counties Building Society conveyancing panel regulated by the SRA?
As a firm of solicitors, in order to be on the National Counties Building Society conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the SRA. Many lenders do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers (CLC).
My wife and I have arranged a further advance on our mortgage from National Counties Building Society as we wish to carry out a loft conversion to our home. Do we need to appoint a solicitor on the National Counties Building Society conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?
National Counties Building Society would not normally instruct a member of their approved list of lawyers 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 National Counties Building Society panel
Planning on purchasing a flat with a mortgage with National Counties Building Society. I have received an online quote from a licensed conveyancer, which states: "There will be no charge for dealing with the Lender if you are obtaining a mortgage". I take this to mean that there will be no additional fee if the solicitor is on the National Counties 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 National Counties Building Society conveyancing panel