Teachers Building Society Conveyancing Panel Sample Enquires to our Call Center
from members of the public
My fiance and I are novices when it comes to buying a property. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Teachers Building Society have this evening contacted us to inform me that they have now hit a problem as our conveyancer is not on their approved list of lawyers. 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 Quality Scheme.
Your property lawyers should contact Teachers Building Society and see if they can apply for membership of the Teachers Building Society conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Teachers Building Society will instruct their own solicitors to act. You don't have to instruct a firm on the Teachers Building Society conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred lawyers, in which case it will likely add costs, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
My husband and I changing mortgage lender for our apartment with Teachers Building Society. We have a son 19 who lives with us. The solicitor on the Teachers Building Society conveyancing panel has asked us to disclose any adults other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the flat is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this form unique to the Teachers Building Society conveyancing panel as he never had to sign this form when we bought 5 years ago (2) Does our son by signing this giving up his rights to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Teachers Building Society 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 Teachers Building Society .This is solely used to protect the Teachers Building Society 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 Teachers Building Society 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.
Are the lawyers identified as being on the Teachers Building Society conveyancing panel, together with their details provided by Teachers Building Society?
The firms themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Teachers Building Society conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Teachers Building Society directly.
I am considering applying for a Teachers Building Society mortgage for purchase of a new build (under development) with 60% loan to value. Is it compulsory to choose a solicitor on the conveyancing panel for Teachers Building Society?
In theory, you could use a solicitor that is not on Teachers Building Society conveyancing panel, but Teachers Building Society 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 transaction.
We have agreed to purchase a house.One unusual aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Teachers Building Society have issued a mortgage offer so presumably this is not a concern to them. Why is my solicitor raising questions about the panel?
Given that your lender is Teachers Building Society your lawyer must to check the Teachers Building Society conveyancing instructions contained in the Part of CML Handbook for Teachers Building Society . The CML Handbook contains minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to Teachers Building Society where a lease does not meet these requirements. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales. The CML are developing guidance for Northern Ireland and Scotland.
We expect to receive a DIP from Teachers Building Society this week so we know how much we could potentially offer as otherwise we are dependent on web based calculators (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc).Do the Teachers Building Society recommend a solicitor on the Teachers Building Society conveyancing panel, or is it better to find our own lawyer
You will need to appoint solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Teachers Building Society conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and the Teachers Building Society through the process.
My ex -wife’s name is on the Teachers Building Society 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 Teachers Building Society mortgage in order to sell?
As regards the Teachers Building Society 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 Teachers Building Society 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.
