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FAQs : The Chesham Building Society Conveyancing Panel
My partner and I are first time buyers. Within the last couple of days our lawyer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Chesham Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that there is now an issue as our conveyancer is not on their conveyancing panel. 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitors should contact Chesham Building Society and see if they can apply for membership of the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Chesham Building Society will instruct their own solicitors to act. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
Our property lawyer has requested from me proof of ID documents saying that this is part of his obligations as a solicitor on the Chesham Building Society Solicitor panel. Is this right?
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 Terms and Conditions that you need to sign will no doubt confirm this. Your lawyer is right that Chesham Building Society 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 Chesham Building Society CML Handbook requirements last updated on Chesham Building Society
I have been searching for online conveyancing estimates. Can I be sure that all the practices that are listed on your website are on the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel?
The solicitor and licensed conveyancing practices listed on our site have advised us that they are on the Chesham Building Society panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the Chesham Building Society panel. To date we have not been informed by either a bank or a member of the public that the data about a specific firm being on the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel is not accurate.
My lawyers in Liverpool have advised me that they can not locate my conveyancing file. At the time of my purchase I took out a mortgage with Chesham Building Society. Is it case that being on the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel they need to have retained the file for a prescribed period?
It very much depends from lender to lender but many of the Terms and Conditions of Conveyancing Panel Appointment require the file to be held for a period of 6 years. That being said we have not seen a copy of the Chesham Building Society Conveyancing Panel Terms. It might be worth you contacting Chesham Building Society directly.
My brother and I have had an offer accepted on a flat I spoke to a lawyer previously used by my dad and he advised instructing a property lawyers approved by Chesham Building Society. The estate agent recommended two local firms so I asked Chesham Building Society if the 2 suggested solicitors are approved, which they are not. Chesham Building Society suggested that either practice can fill out the appropriate forms to become approved. Do I (1) save myself the aggravation and use one of Chesham Building Society 's conveyancing panel solicitors (2) Use the local solicitor and accept there may be delays etc as they go through the approval process.
Enquire of Chesham Building Society for conveyancing panel firms in your area. Lenders have them all over the country. You can also use our search tool at the top of this page to search for a lawyer on the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel based on location. If you particularly like the sound of one of the local lawyers that you have spoken to ask them if they would go onto Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel as it may only take about 2-3 weeks. As long as they meet Chesham Building Society’s requirements it can be a very simple job for the solicitor. Other stuff will be going on in parallel (as you are at an early stage) so it may not delay matters.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment. My mortgage broker pressured me to appoint their lawyers I paid an upfront payment of 225. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Chesham Building Society conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Chesham Building Society panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
At last I have had an offer on an apartment 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? At what point should I appy for the mortgage with Chesham 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 Chesham 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 Chesham Building Society and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.