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approved by Leeds Building Society

Leeds Building Society conveyancing requirements for their panel are no better or no more complicated than most lenders. It is the case now the CML Handbook, the "bible" used by solicitors to establish lender requirements, is different for each lender. It is not clear if your lawyer is on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel. If they are not, this does add further risk of delay as Leeds Building Society will appoint their own solicitors to look after their interest.

One of the many conditions to being on the Leeds Building Society approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Leeds Building Society)which specifies that a local authority search be not more than 6 months old. You should nevertheless ask your lawyer to check whether something called ‘search validation’ indemnity insurance is acceptable to Leeds Building Society.

The law firms on our directory have advised us that they are on the Leeds Building Society panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the Leeds Building Society 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 Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel is not accurate.

Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Leeds Building Society conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers should be in a position to assist

As you are obtaining a mortgage with Leeds Building Society your lawyer must to check the Leeds Building Society conveyancing instructions contained in the Part of CML Handbook for Leeds Building Society . The CML Handbook contains minimum requirements for solar panel roof-space leases, and solicitors are required to report to Leeds Building Society where a lease does not meet these requirements. The requirements relate to the installation of panels on properties in England and Wales. Requirements for Scotland are due in the near future.

Complaining to Leeds Building Society about their conveyancing panel is unlikely to yield much of a response. Every solicitor firm and conveyancer must have a complaints procedure. You can get information from the solicitor’s or conveyancer’s website or ask at their office. They must tell you about it if you ask.

The Legal Ombudsman will make sure that your complaint is properly dealt with by the solicitor. It can also advise you how to complain.

If a licensed conveyancer does not have a complaints procedure or will not tell you about it, contact the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), which will make sure that your complaint is properly dealt with by the conveyancer. Please see below for more information.

In terms of the Leeds 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 Leeds 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.