Swansea Building Society Conveyancing Panel : Questions and Answers from members of the public
I am progressing with the sale of my apartment and the EA has just telephoned to warn that the buyers are switching law firm. I am told that this is due to the fact that Swansea Building Society will only deal with property lawyers on their conveyancing panel. Why would a leading lender only engage with certain solicitors?
Mortgage companies have always had an approved set of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Lloyds Banking Group, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 25 years.
Lenders point to the increase in fraud by way of justification for the cull – criteria have been tightened and a smaller panel should be easier to keep an eye on. No lender will say how many solicitors have been dropped, claiming the information is commercially sensitive, but the Law Society says it is hearing daily from firms that have been removed from panels, or have other concerns about them. Some do not even realise they have been dropped until contacted by a borrower who has instructed them as might be the situation in your buyer’s case. Your purchasers are unlikely to have any sway in the decision.
Our god-son is in the process of securing a new build apartment with a mortgage from Swansea Building Society. His lawyer has advised him of a delay in receiving the ‘Disclosure of Incentive Form’. This document is news to me - what is it and who needs sight of it?
The document is intended to provide information to the main parties involved in the transaction. Therefore, it will be provided to your son’s lawyer who should be on the Swansea Building Society conveyancing panel as a standard part of the process, and to the valuer when requested.
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 Swansea 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.
What tools are available to search for a local solicitor on the Swansea Building Society conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 10 miles to meet the lawyer.
You can use the find a conveyancing panel tool on this page. 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 Swansea Building Society solicitor panel.
My uncle passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor was left the house. The house had a relatively small loan remaining of approximately £5k. I want to have the title changed into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Swansea Building Society , pay off the mortgage etc. Is this possible?
If you intend to re-mortgage then Swansea Building Society will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Swansea Building Society conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Swansea Building Society conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Swansea Building Society mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
When it comes to lenders such as Swansea Building Society do solicitors have to be pay a fee to be on the list of approved solicitors?
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.
is it true that all solicitor firms on the Swansea Building Society conveyancing panel regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority?
As solicitors, in order to be on the Swansea Building Society conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the SRA. Many lenders do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers (CLC).
My offer on house has been accepted, the seller does however have a dependent purchase. The vendors have offered on somewhere, but not been accepted yet, and have viewings of other properties in the pipeline. My conveyancing solicitor has been instructed. What do I do now? When should I get the mortgage app going with Swansea Building Society?
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 Swansea Building Society 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 Swansea Building Society and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.
