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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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How does my firm apply to be on the Scottish Building Society Conveyancing Panel? How can my firm be reinstated onto the Scottish Building Society Conveyancing Panel?Find an Approved Solicitor on the Scottish Building Society Conveyancing Panel
Q and A’s regarding the Scottish Building Society Conveyancing Panel
I am progressing with the sale of my apartment and the estate agent has just telephoned to warn that the buyers are switching law firm. The excuse is that Scottish Building Society will only deal with property lawyers on their approved list. Why would a big named lender only engage with certain law firms?
Lenders have always had panels of law firms they are willing to work with, but in the past few years big names such as Santander, have reviewed and reduced their conveyancing panel– in some cases removing conveyancing firms who have worked with them for decades.
Banks point to the increase in fraud as the reason 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.
My wife and I intend to remortgage our apartment with Scottish Building Society. We have a son 19 who lives with us. The solicitor on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who reside at the property. Our lawyer has now e-mailed a document for our son to sign, giving up any rights in the event that the apartment is forfeited by the lender. I have a couple of questions (1) Is this document specific to the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 5 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?
On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to Scottish Building Society .This is solely used to protect the Scottish Building Society if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave.
It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of Scottish Building Society had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.
Whilst your website is a good idea there are many lawyers listed near London on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel. It would be a lot more helpful if you could recommend a specific firm on the conveyancing panel for Scottish Building Society ?
We do not recommend specific firms as the right firm for you depends on where your priorities lie. For example you may require a local firm with local knowledge or you might be looking for the low cost conveyancing. Before you appoint your lawyer we advise you to speak to two or three of the firms listed to gain comfort as to which one is right for you..
My grandfather passed away six months ago and as sole heir and executor was left the property. The house had a small mortgage left on it of around £5k. I want to transfer the title deeds into my name whilst I re-mortgage to Scottish Building Society , pay off the mortgage etc. Is this possible?
If you intend to re-mortgage then Scottish Building Society will insist on your using a conveyancer on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel. Here is link to the Land Registry online guidance around what to do when a property owner dies. This will help you to understand the registration process behind changing the details re the registered title. in your case it would appear that you are effectively purchasing the property from the estate. Your Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel solicitor pays the new mortgage money into the estate, the estate pays off the old mortgage, the charge is released and you become the owner and the Scottish Building Society mortgage is registered as a charge at the Land Registry.
I was thinking of purchasing my friend’s property. Assuming we can agree a figure, what’s the best way to move forward? I plan to obtain a mortgage with Scottish Building Society. Is it possible to avoid using solicitors to save on the costs? My dad reckons back in the day he did a lot of it himself, just went into the land registry office and providing them with the info they needed himself
If you are getting a mortgage with Scottish Building Society involved you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel. We would not encourage you to both use the same solicitors' firm. There are clear conflict of interest issues and it's not going to make a huge difference to the speed of the overall process. So as not to hold things us you should pass on your solicitors details to Scottish Building Society. Feel free to use our search tool to look for a licensed conveyancer or solicitor on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel.
The mortgage over my property is with Scottish Building Society. Conveyancing has been completed a year ago. In the event that I decide to rent out the flat and do not currently have a buy-to-let mortgage do I need to remortgage to a BTL mortgage or inform Scottish Building Society?
Your original mortgage agreement with Scottish Building Society will provide that you need their approval before letting out your property as this is likely to be a breach of Scottish Building Society’s mortgage conditions. It may be that Scottish Building Society will allow you to rent out your former home without needing to switch to a buy-to-let mortgage but some lenders will add a surcharge to your mortgage rate to reflect the higher risk. You should contact Scottish Building Society directly. It should not be necessary to do this via a Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel solicitor.
I was told two weeks ago that my mortgage has been agreed
to by Scottish Building Society. Is it usual for Scottish Building Society to only issue the offer once my
solicitor is approved on their conveyancing panel?
A lender would not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Scottish Building Society to deal with your lawyers application to be on the Scottish Building Society conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitors will be accepted.