Find a Law Firm approved by Banks & Clients

You have a number of options available to you here:

1. Complete the purchase with your preferred solicitors but Banks and Clients will need to instruct a lawyer on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel. This will result in additional cost and potential delay.
2. Get a new solicitor to act in the purchase, obviously checking they are on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel.
3. Convince your lawyer to do everything within their powers to join the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel

A precondition to being on the Banks and Clients approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Banks and Clients) which do require that your lawyer disclose any incorrect assumptions in the lender’s valuation report and the legal papers. Should you refuse to allow your lawyer to make the appropriate notification then your lawyer will have no choice but to discontinue acting for you.

Unfortunately it’s not apparent why you need a Banks and Clients panel solicitor but in any event, if you can not find one on our search tool you will need to speak directly to Banks and Clients to find out which solicitors in Banks and Clients are on their panel. If you do find such a firm not listed please direct them to our site to list. At a fee of one pound per month it is not expensive to register on the site

If you have an estate agent involved then inform them 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 should appoint new lawyers that are on the Banks and Clients 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 assist

Ask Banks and Clients to suggest a law firm in your location. Lenders have them all over the country. You can also use our search tool at the top of this page to search for a lawyer on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel based on location. If you particularly like the sound of one of the local lawyers that you have spoken to ask them if they would go onto Banks and Clients conveyancing panel as it may only take about 2-3 weeks. As long as they meet Banks and Clients’s requirements it can be a very simple job for the solicitor. Other stuff will be going on in parallel (as you are at an early stage) so it may not delay matters.

You should start obtaining conveyancing quotes from solicitors ASAP. After you have chosen your lawyer and once your offer is accepted you can instruct them to work for you and pass their details on the the estate agent. As you are getting a mortgage with Banks and Clients , ask your prospective lawyers check they are on the Banks and Clients conveyancing panel otherwise they can't do the mortgage legal work.

Complaining to Banks and Clients about their conveyancing panel is unlikely to yield much of a response. Every solicitor firm and conveyancer must have a complaints procedure. Usually one can find this 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 addressed 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.