Newcastle Building Society Conveyancing Lender Panel Compliance Tool

Lexsure’s COMPLETIONmonitor is web-based pre- and post-completion checklist for property lawyers. Supported by the CML and PI insurers such as AmTrust. COMPLETIONmonitor is a unique risk mitigation tool.

This software assists the way you can demonstrate to lender panels that you are, and can remain fully compliant with their instructions, with alerts on Newcastle Building Society’s changes. Even though using COMPLETIONmonitor is not a condition for acceptance on the Newcastle Building Society panel, demonstrating you can remain up to date with Newcastle Building Society’s Handbook requirements is a helpful support to your panel application and, more importantly, protect your firm’s panel standing.

The software creates real-time alerts, automatically produces COLP and CQS reports, and will improve your firm's efficiency. In addition it is simply to use, cost-effective and, for some firms, leads to a PII saving.

Find a Law Firm approved by Newcastle Building Society

Lenders often vary their requirements. The BSA instructions from Newcastle 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 2010, Newcastle Building Society has made 105 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the BSA Requirements.
That equates to a section change every 26.0 days. In total, 29% of the sections of the BSA Requirements for Newcastle Building Society have been changed since 26/1/2010.

To find out more about lender panel compliance,

Book a Personalised Demo

Newcastle Building Society Conveyancing Panel : Questions and Answers from members of the public

We are hoping to buy a 3 bedroom apartment in Newcastle with a mortgage from Newcastle Building Society. We would like to retain our lawyer but Newcastle Building Society says she’s not on their "panel". We have to appoint one of the Newcastle Building Society panel solicitors or keep our solicitor and pay for one of their panel ones to represent them. We feel as though this is unjust; Can we not simply insist that Newcastle Building Society use our lawyer?
Unfortunately,no. The mortgage offered to you is subject to its terms and conditions, one of which will be that lawyers will on the Newcastle 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 lawyer to apply to be on the conveyancing panel for Newcastle Building Society
Much to my surprise my solicitor has requested from me proof of ID documents asserting that this is part of his legal duty as a conveyancer on the Newcastle Building Society Conveyancing panel. Is this right?
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 Client Care letter that you need to sign will no doubt confirm this. Your lawyer is right that Newcastle 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 Newcastle Building Society CML Handbook requirements last updated on Newcastle Building Society
I see that you have a search directory identifying law firms on the Newcastle Building Society conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a referral fee if I instruct them for my conveyancing?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Newcastle Building Society conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to the any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint.
I was supposed to complete on my dream home last Friday. My solicitor is on the Newcastle Building Society solicitors panel but has changed address in the past couple of months and had not informed Newcastle Building Society of their new address. Newcastle Building Society has locked down the release of mortgage funds until such time as their systems are up to date with the correct details.
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 Newcastle Building Society branch or your mortgage broker to see if they can help.
I was thinking of purchasing my friend’s property. Once we agree a price, what’s the best way to move forward? I plan to obtain a mortgage with Newcastle 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 Newcastle Building Society involved you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Newcastle 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 Newcastle Building Society. Feel free to use our search tool to look for a licensed conveyancer or solicitor on the Newcastle Building Society conveyancing panel.
The for formalities of my remortgage has taken place with a mortgage from Newcastle Building Society. Conveyancing was of an acceptable standard but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about Newcastle Building Society. How does one go about formally complaining?
All lenders have complaints procedures. Your first point of contact should be one of the Newcastle Building Society branches or the Customer Services Department at Newcastle Building Society head office. We understand that complaints to Newcastle Building Society are resolved very quickly. If you feel that the matter is not resolved you can write to the Financial Ombudsman Service with full details of your complaint.
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment. My financial adviser pressured me to appoint their lawyers I paid an upfront payment of 150. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Newcastle Building Society conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Newcastle Building Society panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.