Examples of recent questions relating to the Reliance Bank Solicitor Panel from members of the public
My wife and I are FTBs. Within the last couple of days our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to sign with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Reliance Bank have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our lawyer is not on their conveyancing panel. Please explain?
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 Accreditation Scheme. Your property lawyers should contact Reliance Bank and see if they can apply for membership of the Reliance Bank conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Reliance Bank will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the Reliance Bank conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
I am buying a newly built flat and my solicitor is telling me that she has to disclose incentives from the developer as her practice is on the Reliance Bank conveyancing panel. The Estate Agents are hassling me to sign contracts and I have no desire to delay the conveyancing. Can I insist on an exchange regardless of what my lawyer says about being on the Reliance Bank panel?
You should not exchange unless you have advised to do so by your lawyer. A precondition to being on the Reliance Bank approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Reliance Bank). The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
Are there any apps to help find a local solicitor on the Reliance Bank conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 20 miles to meet the lawyer.
Feel free to make use of the find a conveyancing panel search on this website. 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 Reliance Bank solicitor panel.
We're in London, FTBs purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Reliance Bank , but our lawyer is on the Reliance Bank conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?
The fact that your lawyer is on the Reliance Bank conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancer should guarantee a time-frame for your conveyancing due to third parties outside of our control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain
When it comes to mortgage companies such as Reliance Bank do lawyers have to be pay a fee to be on the conveyancing panel?
We are not aware of any lender fees to be on their panel although some do charge an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.
My ex -wife’s name is on the Reliance Bank mortgage of my property but not on the land registry. The apartment was transferred to me on our divorce many years ago by way of a sealed court order. Does my ex still have a say on the sale even though the land registry showing the property in my name alone? Will I be required to take her name of the Reliance Bank mortgage in order to sell?
As regards the Reliance Bank mortgage, it is unusual that your ex-wife’s name remains on the mortgage but not on the title. It is conceivable that this is an oversight on the part of your conveyancers to ensure that her name was removed or even an administrative error on the part of Reliance Bank in failing to update their data. In any event, it should cause difficulty providing her name no longer appears on the Land Registry title and you have a court order ordering that the property is transferred to you.
Reliance Bank have agreed my mortgage in principle, my offer on house has been accepted, now what?
The estate agent will want to know who your solicitors are (make sure these solicitors are on the lenders panel). Call up Reliance Bank or your broker and complete any relevant paperwork. Reliance Bank will tell you what documents they want. Reliance Bank will instruct a valuer. The valuer will get in touch with the estate agent or seller to book an appointment. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes about week to get a mortgage offer. Reliance Bank will issue the offer to you and your lawyer. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing.