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approved by Ecology BS
Ready to buy a new home? Failing to check that a lawyer is on the Ecology BS list of approved solicitors can put your transaction at risk of delay or failure.
Find an Approved Solicitor on the Ecology Building Society Conveyancing Panel
Examples of recent questions relating to the Ecology Building Society Conveyancing Panel
My fiance and I are novices when it comes to buying a property. Within the 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to sign with a detailed report with the expectation that exchange is imminent. Ecology Building Society have this afternoon contacted us to inform me that there is now an issue as our solicitor is not on their approved list of lawyers. Is this a problem?
If you are buying a property with the assistance 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 Accreditation Scheme. Your solicitors should contact Ecology Building Society and see if they can apply for membership of the Ecology Building Society conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Ecology Building Society will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the Ecology Building Society conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
Can you clarify something for me?. For no fault of my lawyer but, my purchase conveyancing has been going on for months. The Local Authority Search from Ecology Building Society was date stamped random date and we have agreed a date for me to move into the property on 6 months + 3. My solicitor informs me that as she is on the Ecology Building Society conveyancing panel she needs to reorder the searches as they are no longer acceptable to the lender.
A precondition to being on the Ecology Building Society approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Ecology Building Society)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 Ecology Building Society.
I require the services of a Ecology Building Society panel solicitor in Inverness. Can you assist?
Unfortunately it’s not apparent why you need a Ecology Building Society panel solicitor but in any event, if you can not find one on our search tool you will need to speak directly to Ecology Building Society to find out which solicitors in Ecology Building Society 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
The lawyers that just started acting on my house acquisition in London has without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I had to have a solicitor on the Ecology Building Society conveyancing panel and my previous lawyer was not. I gave my credit card details for them to take £175 for searches. What should be my next steps?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they can let the sellers know 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 Ecology 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 should be in a position to assist
Do the majority of 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 Ecology Building Society conveyancing panel requirements are different to Ecology Building Society’s conveyancing panel criteria.
Two weeks ago we had a mortgage agreed in principle with Ecology Building Society. Solicitors have been appointed? How long does it take for Ecology Building Society to send the offer to our conveyancer
There is no definitive answer here. Have Ecology Building Society conducted the survey? Have you advised Ecology Building Society as your lawyers details and checked that your lawyer is on the Ecology Building Society conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through
My ex -wife’s name is on the Ecology Building Society mortgage of my property but not on the land registry. The apartment was transferred to me on our divorce many years ago by way of a sealed court order. Does my ex still have a say on the sale even though the land registry showing the property in my name alone? Will I be required to take her name of the Ecology Building Society mortgage in order to sell?
As regards the Ecology Building Society mortgage, it is unusual that your ex-wife’s name remains on the mortgage but not on the title. It is conceivable that this is an oversight on the part of your conveyancers to ensure that her name was removed or even an administrative error on the part of Ecology Building Society in failing to update their data. In any event, it should cause difficulty providing her name no longer appears on the Land Registry title and you have a court order ordering that the property is transferred to you.