Bank of Scotland Solicitor Panel Example Support Desk Enquires from members of the public
I am obtaining a mortgage offer from Bank of Scotland. I intend to employ the services of a Licensed Conveyancer. Does the Bank of Scotland Conveyancing panel include conveyancers regulated by the CLC
Bank of Scotland’s conveyancing panel is, like many other lenders associated to the Council or Mortgage Lenders or BSA, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the CLC.
My partner and I are refinancing our penthouse with Bank of Scotland. We have a son approaching twenty who lives with us. The solicitor on the Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel requested us to identify any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the property is forfeited by the lender. I have two questions (1) Is this document specific to the Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we remortgaged 5 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel solicitor is doing the right thing as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Bank of Scotland .This is solely used to protect the Bank of Scotland if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave.
It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Bank of Scotland had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
I see that you have a post code search directory identifying solicitors on the Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a commission if I retain them for my house purchase?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to the any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint.
I am in the process of refinancing my house does my lawyer have to be on the Bank of Scotland Solicitor panel?
In theory, you could use a solicitor that is not on Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel, but Bank of Scotland would require one of their panel solicitors to be instructed to act in their interests, and you'd have to pay for this - so most people instruct a panel solicitor. It's also easier, as otherwise you'd have to deal with two solicitors for the same conveyancing matter.
Are all Conveyancing Quality Solicitors on the Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel?
A selection of banks and building societies now use CQS as the starting point for Panel approval such as HSBC and Santander. The Law Society’s CQS membership however gives 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 conveyancing solicitors.
I was told three weeks ago that my mortgage has been agreed
to by Bank of Scotland. Is it usual for Bank of Scotland to only issue the offer once my
solicitor is approved on their conveyancing panel?
Mortgage companies tend not to not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Bank of Scotland to deal with your lawyers application to be on the Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitors will be accepted.
At last I have had an offer on an apartment accepted, but there is a chain. The vendors have offered on somewhere, but not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other properties booked. My conveyancing solicitor has been instructed. What do I do now? When should I get the mortgage app going with Bank of Scotland?
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 Bank of Scotland 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 Bank of Scotland and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.
