Find a Law Firm
approved by Nottingham BS
Ready to buy a new home? Failing to check that a lawyer is on the Nottingham BS list of approved solicitors can put your transaction at risk of delay or failure.
Looking for information about your firm's panel status?
How does my firm apply to be on the Nottingham Building Society Conveyancing Panel? How can my firm be reinstated onto the Nottingham Building Society Conveyancing Panel?Find an Approved Solicitor on the Nottingham Building Society Conveyancing Panel
Frequently asked questions relating to the Nottingham Building Society Solicitor Panel
I am progressing with the sale of my maisonette and the EA has just called to say that the purchasers are switching solicitor. The excuse is that Nottingham Building Society will only engage with property lawyers on their approved list. On what basis would a leading mortgage company only work with certain solicitors?
Lenders have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as HSBC, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for more than 15 years.
Lenders point to the increase in fraud by way of justification 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 being contacted daily by practices 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.
Much to my surprise my solicitor is asking me for proof of ID documents saying that this forms part of his requirements as a conveyancer on the Nottingham Building Society Conveyancing panel. This is news to me - can I refuse?
Due to Money Laundering Regulations your conveyancing lawyer is duty bound to confirm positively your identification when entering into a business relationship with you. It is a criminal offense if your lawyer not do this. If you do not provide ID early in the transaction the solicitor must refuse to act for you. It’s unlikely a lawyer will turn you away if you come to the first meeting without relevant ID but you will have to produce it at some point so you might as well bring it with you to the initial meeting so the lawyer can tick the ID verification box and start sorting out the conveyancing straight away. If you are getting a mortgage with Nottingham Building Society your lawyer also has to check ID documents to satisfy Nottingham Building Society
How do I find a local solicitor on the Nottingham Building Society conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 25 kilometers to meet the conveyancer.
Feel free to make use of the find a conveyancing panel search on this page. Please choose the lender and your location and you will see a number of lawyer located nearest you. Alternatively you can type in the name of your proposed law firm and see if they are listed as being on the Nottingham Building Society solicitor panel.
The lawyers that I recently instructed on my house acquisition in Newcastle has suddenly closed. They were on acting for me because I needed a solicitor on the Nottingham Building Society conveyancing panel and my family lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £175 for searches. What do I do now?
If you have an estate agent involved then let them know immediately so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to reasons beyond your control. Hopefully they will 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 Nottingham 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 solicitors may be able to help
Do most banks operate their own panel of solicitors?
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 Nottingham Building Society conveyancing panel requirements are different to Nottingham Building Society’s conveyancing panel criteria.
For 5 years I had a mortgage with Nottingham Building Society. My father retired last week and wants to pay off my mortgage. After Nottingham Building Society is paid, I want to transfer the property to my mother's name; How long will it roughly take? Do we need two separate solicitors on the Nottingham Building Society conveyancing panel? I do not intend to live at the property once the Nottingham Building Society mortgage is discharged.
You
will need a solicitor but they need not be on the Nottingham Building Society conveyancing panel.
You will need a solicitor to draw up the transfer and
to deal with the Land Registry formalities. The only thing you need to
consider is that by selling at an undervalue so ask your lawyer about
the implications. There could be an inheritance tax issue if you die
within 7 years of this. There's no capital gains tax for you as it is
your main residence.
At last I have had an offer on an apartment accepted, but there is a chain. 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 should be my next step? When should I get the mortgage app going with Nottingham 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 Nottingham 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 Nottingham Building Society and pay for the valuation and only if it comes back ok would they pay their solicitor to press on with searches.