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Ready to buy a new home? Failing to check that a lawyer is on the Scottish BS list of approved solicitors can put your transaction at risk of delay or failure.
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My fiance and I are first time buyers. Within the 48 hours our conveyancer has sent a preliminary report and documents to look through with a view to exchanging next week. Scottish Building Society have this evening contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our lawyer is not on their approved list of lawyers. What do we do from here?
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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitors should contact Scottish Building Society and see if they can apply for membership of the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Scottish Building Society will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you have another set of people involved.
Please help. My conveyancer is informing me me that she is duty-bound to order a Local Authority search because the firm are on the Scottish Building Society approved lawyer panel. Do I not have a choice here?
You have limited options available to you. Given that you are taking out a loan with Scottish Building Society your lawyer has to comply with their conditions as set out in their version of the CML Conveyancing Handbook. Your lawyer would have previously signed the Terms and Conditions of Scottish Building Society’s conveyancing panel appointment which obliges them to follow the CML Handbook requirements last updated Scottish Building Society. even if you were a cash buyer you would be ill advised not to carry out a local authority search.
Do I need to visit the offices of the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel solicitor to execute the mortgage deed? If so, I will choose one who does conveyancing in London
so that I can attend their offices when needed.
Whereas this was necessary twenty years ago, most lenders no longer require their conveyancing panel solicitor to witness the borrowers signature. You will still be obliged to provide ID Documents and there are still distinct advantages to using a local solicitor, in your case a conveyancing solicitor in London
.
I am selling my house. Does my solicitor have to be on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel in order to deal with paying off my mortgage?
Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. it might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their requirements fairly frequently at the moment.
I previously instructed online solicitors located in Manchester who are on the Scottish Building Society solicitor panel. They have just invoiced me a separate fee of £150 for dealing with the Scottish Building Society mortgage. Is this an additional conveyancing fee specified by Scottish Building Society?
Unfortunately, as long as it is in their Terms and Conditions or Quote then yes your solicitors can charge a fee for this. This fee is not set by Scottish Building Society but by your lawyers. Some firms on the Scottish Building Society will charge an ‘acting for lender’ fee and others do not.
We are getting a further advance on our mortgage from Scottish Building Society as we wish to carry out alterations or improvements our home. Do we need to appoint a solicitor on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel to deal with the paperwork?
Scottish Building Society would not normally appoint firms on their conveyancing panel to deal with such a matter. If they did require any legal work then you would need to ensure that such a lawyer was on the Scottish Building Society list
I'm at the point of looking at apartments and now considering a potential offer. Is it premature to have a solicitor in place? I intend to finance via a mortgage with Scottish Building Society
It would be sensible to have your start your search soon rather than later. Once you decide who you want to use and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on the the EA. As you are getting a mortgage with Scottish Building Society , make sure you remember to check that your lawyer is on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel.