Common questions asked concerning the Scottish Building Society Solicitor Panel from members of the public
The solicitor I wanted to use for conveyancing on a remortgage said he will levy higher legal fees if my lender is because of their difficult processes! Am I likely to be frustrated using Scottish Building Society? Is Scottish Building Society conveyancing so much more difficult?
Scottish Building Society conveyancing requirements for their panel are no better or no more complicated than most lenders.
It is the case now the CML Handbook, the "bible" used by solicitors to establish lender requirements, is different for each lender.
It is not clear if your lawyer is on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel. If they are not, this does add further risk of delay as Scottish Building Society will appoint their own solicitors to look after their interest.
Our nephew is buying a new build apartment with a home loan from Scottish Building Society. His conveyancer has advised him of a delay in completing the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. This document is news to me - what is it and who needs sight of it?
The form is intended to provide information to the main parties engaged in the purchase. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when asked.
The Developer will be required to start the process by downloading the form and completing it.
The form will therefore need to be available for the valuer at the time of his or her site visit. The form should be sent to the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel solicitor as early as possible, in order to avoid any last minute delays, and no later than at exchange of contracts.
I require the services of a Scottish Building Society panel solicitor in Belfast. Can you assist?
It is not clear why you need a Scottish Building Society panel solicitor but in any event, if you can not find one on our search tool you will need to speak directly to Scottish Building Society to find out which solicitors in Scottish Building Society are on their panel. If you do find such a firm not listed please direct them to our site to list. At a fee of one pound per month it is not expensive to register on the site
The firm that I recently instructed on my purchase in Brighton has suddenly shut down. I only went with them because I needed a firm on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel and my preferred lawyer was not. I paid them £200 on account. What should be my next steps?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know 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 will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Scottish 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 solicitors may be able to assist
Do conveyancing lawyers on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel work on a no sale no fee basis?
There is generally no requirements by lenders for their firms to operate on a no-sale-no-fee basis. There a small number of lenders who operate a very restricted conveyancing panel managed by a third party company (often termed in the industry as a ‘gatekeeper’). That third party may impose certain conditions such as non-sale-no fee on the panel firms. If you require this as a condition of your conveyancing then you should check with the conveyancing firm that this is part of their service
I previously instructed online solicitors located in Manchester who are on the Scottish Building Society solicitor panel. They have just invoiced me a separate fee of £150 for the legal aspects of the Scottish Building Society mortgage. Is this a supplemental conveyancing fee specified by Scottish Building Society?
Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your solicitors can charge a fee for this. This fee is not set by Scottish Building Society but by your lawyers. Some firms on the Scottish Building Society will charge an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
My existing mortgage is with Scottish Building Society. My godfather retired last week and wants to pay off my mortgage. After Scottish Building Society is paid, I want to transfer the property to my mother's name; How long will it roughly take? Do we need two separate solicitors on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel? I do not intend to live at the property once the Scottish Building Society mortgage is discharged.
Although you do need to retain the services of a lawyer they dont
need to be on the Scottish Building Society panel.
You will need a solicitor to draw up the transfer and
to deal with the Land Registry formalities. The only thing you need to
consider is that by selling at an undervalue so ask your lawyer about
the implications. There could be an inheritance tax issue if you die
within 7 years of this. As the property is your main residence you need
not pay CGT but you should speak with your accountants in any event.
