Find a Law Firm
approved by DanskeBank

You may be very frustrated with the lawyer but if it only go take a few more days they it may be worth waiting as, depending on how far progressed you are you may end up delaying the transaction by a number of weeks if you need to replace your solicitor You may wish to enlist the help of your broker to check with the Danske Bank as to how long they think it will take to get the firm to get back on the panel.

The short answer to your last question is that, notwithstanding the potential for a conflict of interest, you and Danske Bank are the client. A precondition to being on the Danske Bank approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Danske Bank). The CML Handbook conditions require your lawyer to disclose issues such as defects will the lease so that Danske Bank can be afforded the opportunity to check with their valuer as to the extent that the value of the property is affected . Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.

The law firms on our directory have advised us that they are on the Danske Bank panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the Danske Bank panel. To date we have not been informed by either a mortgage company or a member of the public that the data about a specific firm being on the Danske Bank conveyancing panel is incorrect.

There is nothing to stop you using your solicitor but Danske Bank will insist on their interests being represented by a firm on their conveyancing panel. There is greater potential for delays and confusion with two solicitors involved, and it will undoubtedly be more expensive too.

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.

Many lenders do operate a restricted conveyancing panel but a lot of lenders allow any solicitors to join their panel so long as they meet their criteria. Each lender sets their own criteria. For example the Danske Bank conveyancing panel requirements are different to Danske Bank’s conveyancing panel requirements.

Danske Bank will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Danske Bank will appoint their own surveyor to do this, and you will have to pay for it. Remember that this is a valuation for mortgage purposes and not a survey. You may wish to consider appointing your own surveyor to carry out a survey or prepare a home buyers report on the property. It is up to you to satisfy yourself that the property is structurally sound before you buy it. If the survey or report reveals that building work is needed, you should tell your solicitor. You may wish to renegotiate with the seller. or Your lawyer will not organise the survey but they may be able to put you in touch with a local one that they recommend. RICS offers a find a surveyor service (just google it) where you can search for a qualified surveyor by postcode. As you are getting a mortgage with Danske Bank you could contact your them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors.