Find a Law Firm
approved by CynergyBank

Mortgage companies have always had an approved set 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 decades.

Lenders blame a rise 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.

A precondition to being on the Cynergy Bank approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook Part 2 obligations (last updated for this lender on Cynergy Bank)which specifies that a local authority search be not more than half a year old. You should nevertheless ask your lawyer to check whether something called ‘search validation’ indemnity insurance is acceptable to Cynergy Bank.

We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Cynergy Bank conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to the any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint.

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the Cynergy Bank 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.

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 Cynergy Bank conveyancing panel requirements are different to Cynergy Bank’s conveyancing panel requirements.

As long as the conveyancer is on the Cynergy Bank panel she or he must comply with the CML Handbook requirements for Cynergy Bank. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that Cynergy Bank will go ahead your lawyer has no choice but to refrain from exchanging contract and committing you to the purchase. We would suggest that you ask Cynergy Bank to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the remaining number of years left on the lease.

Cynergy Bank will need an independent valuation of the property. Your lawyer will not arrange this. Usually Cynergy 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 Cynergy Bank you could contact your them to see if they have a list of approved surveyors.