Royal Bank of Scotland Solicitor Panel Recently Asked Questions from members of the public
Is there a reason why all solicitors are not on the Royal Bank of Scotland Solicitor panel?
Royal Bank of Scotland and other mortgage companies tend to imposes restrictions either the type or the number of conveyancing firms on their panel. Typical examples of such restriction(s) being that a firm must have two or more partners. In addition to restricting the type of firm, some have decided to limit the number of firms they use to represent them. You should note that Royal Bank of Scotland have no responsibility for the quality of advice provided by any member of Royal Bank of Scotland Conveyancer Panel. Mortgage fraud was a key driver in the rationalisation of conveyancing panels a few years ago and whilst there are differing views about the extent of solicitor involvement in some of that fraud. Statistics from the Land Registry reveal that thousands of law firms only carry out one or two conveyances a year. Those supporting conveyancing panel cuts ask why law firms should have the right to be on a Lender panel when clearly, Conveyancing is not their speciality? To put it another way; would you want a conveyancing solicitor to represent you if you were charged with a crime; probably not.
My conveyancing solicitor is asking me for identification documents stating that this forms part of his legal duty as a solicitor on the Royal Bank of Scotland Conveyancing 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 Client Care letter that you need to sign will no doubt confirm this. Your lawyer is right that Royal Bank of Scotland 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 Royal Bank of Scotland CML Handbook requirements last updated on Royal Bank of Scotland
I have been searching for online conveyancing estimates. Can I be sure that all the law firms that are listed on your directory are on the Royal Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel?
The law firms listed on our site have advised us that they are on the Royal Bank of Scotland panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the Royal Bank of Scotland panel. To date we have not been informed by either a lender or a member of the public that the data about a specific firm being on the Royal Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel is not accurate.
Please explain the implications if my solicitor is expelled from the Royal Bank of Scotland Conveyancing panel prior to the moving date as agreed at exchange of contracts?
The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have ti instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by the regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
When it comes to lenders such as Royal Bank of Scotland do solicitors 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.
I can not work out if my mortgage offer requires a lease extension . I have called Royal Bank of Scotland on various occasions and told it wasn't a problem and they would lend. My solicitor - who is on the Royal Bank of Scotland 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
As long as the conveyancer is on the Royal Bank of Scotland panel she or he must comply with the CML Handbook requirements for Royal Bank of Scotland. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that Royal Bank of Scotland 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 Royal Bank of Scotland to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the remaining number of years left on the lease.
I was told four weeks ago that my mortgage has been agreed
to by Royal Bank of Scotland. Is it usual for Royal 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 Royal Bank of Scotland to deal with your lawyers application to be on the Royal Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitors will be accepted.
