Yorkshire Bank Conveyancing Lender Panel Compliance Tool

COMPLETIONmonitor is an online pre- and post-completion checklist for property lawyers. Supported by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and professional indemnity insures. COMPLETIONmonitor is a unique risk mitigation tool.

This system facilitates the way you can prove to lender panels that you are, and can stay fully compliant with their instructions, with alerts on Yorkshire Bank’s changes. Even though utilising COMPLETIONmonitor is not a prerequisite for Yorkshire Bank , demonstrating you can remain up to date with Yorkshire Bank’s Handbook requirements is a helpful support to your application to their lender panel and, more importantly, protect your firm’s panel standing.

COMPLETIONmonitor creates real-time alerts, automatically produces regulatory and CQS reports, and will improve your firm's efficiency. It is also user friendly, cost-effective and, for many firms, results in reduced PII premiums.

Find a Law Firm approved by Yorkshire Bank

Banks and building societies often vary their requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements from Yorkshire Bank are not guidelines, they are instructions from a client. As with many clients, instructions can change - and they do change, frequently:

A Timeline of Policy Changes


Since 2008, Yorkshire Bank has made 300 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the CML Handbook.
That equates to a section change every 9.1 days. In total, 50% of the sections of P2 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Yorkshire Bank have been changed since 15/12/2008.

To find out more about lender panel compliance,

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Q and A’s regarding the Yorkshire Bank Solicitor Panel from members of the public

I am progressing with the sale of my house and the EA has just called to say that the purchasers are swapping law firm. The excuse is that Yorkshire Bank will only work with solicitors on their conveyancing panel. On what basis would a big named mortgage company only engage with certain solicitors?
Banks have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Santander, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 25 years.

Banks blame a rise in fraud as the reason 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.

My husband and I are refinancing our flat with Yorkshire Bank. We have a son 19 who lives with us. The solicitor on the Yorkshire Bank conveyancing panel requested us to identify anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the flat is repossessed. I have two questions (1) Is this form unique to the Yorkshire Bank conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 5 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
First, rest assured that your Yorkshire Bank 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 Yorkshire Bank .This is solely used to protect the Yorkshire Bank 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 Yorkshire Bank 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.

Do all mortgage companies provide you with an approved list of solicitors? How do you know who is on the Yorkshire Bank conveyancing panel?
The law firm practices themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Yorkshire Bank conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Yorkshire Bank directly.
We're in Birmingham, First time buyers purchasing with a mortgage (lender is Yorkshire Bank , but our solicitor is on the Yorkshire Bank conveyancing panel). How long should the conveyancing process take?
The fact that your lawyer is on the Yorkshire 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
Are all solicitor practices on the Yorkshire Bank conveyancing panel overseen by the SRA?
As solicitors, in order to be on the Yorkshire Bank conveyancing panel they would need to be regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. Many lenders do allow licenced conveyancers on their panel in which case such firms would be regulated by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers (CLC).
Completion of my purchase has taken place with a loan from Yorkshire Bank. Conveyancing was of an acceptable standard but I feel I should register my dissatisfaction about Yorkshire Bank. How does one go about formally complaining?
All lenders have complaints procedures. Your first port of call should be one of the Yorkshire Bank branches or the Customer Services Team at Yorkshire Bank head office. Ordinarily complaints to Yorkshire Bank are sorted out effectively and efficiently. However if you are not satisfied that the matter is resolved you can write to the Financial Ombudsman Service at South Quay Plaza, 183 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR who will take matters further.
My ex -wife’s name is on the Yorkshire 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 Yorkshire Bank mortgage in order to sell?
In terms of the Yorkshire 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 Yorkshire 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.