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Ready to buy a new home? Failing to check that a lawyer is on the Principality 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 Principality Building Society Conveyancing Panel? How can my firm be reinstated onto the Principality Building Society Conveyancing Panel?Find an Approved Solicitor on the Principality Building Society Conveyancing Panel
Principality Building Society Conveyancing Panel Recently Asked Questions
My wife and I are FTBs. Within the last couple of days our solicitor has forwarded the sale agreement to sign with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Principality Building Society have this morning 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?
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 Quality Scheme. Your solicitors should contact Principality Building Society and see if they can apply for membership of the Principality Building Society conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Principality Building Society will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the Principality Building Society conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.
My conveyancing solicitor has requested from me proof of ID documents stating that this forms part of his retainer as a solicitor on the Principality Building Society Conveyancing panel. Is this right?
Due to Money Laundering Regulations your conveyancing lawyer is duty bound to confirm positively your identification when entering into a business relationship with you. It is a criminal offense if your lawyer not do this. If you do not provide ID early in the transaction the solicitor must refuse to act for you. It’s unlikely a lawyer will turn you away if you come to the first meeting without relevant ID but you will have to produce it at some point so you might as well bring it with you to the initial meeting so the lawyer can tick the ID verification box and start sorting out the conveyancing straight away. If you are getting a mortgage with Principality Building Society your lawyer also has to check ID documents to satisfy Principality Building Society
Do all mortgage companies provide you with an approved list of solicitors? How do you know who is on the Principality Building Society conveyancing panel?
The law firm practices themselves provide us confirmation that they are on the Principality Building Society conveyancing panel as opposed to being supplied with a list from Principality Building Society directly.
What happens if my lawyer’s firm is suspended from the Principality Building Society Solicitor panel prior to the completion date?
The first thing to point out is that, this is very unlikely to happen. In most cases even where a law firm is removed off of a panel the lender would allow the completion to go ahead as the lender would appreciate the difficulties that they would place you in if you have ti instruct a new solicitor days before completion. In a worst case scenario where the lender insists that you instruct a new firm then it is possible for a very good lawyer to expedite the conveyancing albeit that you may pay a significant premium for this. The analogous situation is where a buyer instructs a lawyer, exchanges contracts and the law firm is shut down by the regulator such as the SRA. Again, in this situation you can find lawyers who can troubleshoot their way to bring the conveyancing to a satisfactory conclusion - albeit for a fee.
It is not clear whether my mortgage offer obliges me to make sure the lease term for the flat is extended prior to the completion date . I have telephoned Principality Building Society on numerous occasions and told it wasn't a problem and they would lend. My solicitor - who is on the Principality Building Society conveyancing panel- telephoned and was told not they would not lend in accordance with their CML Handbook minimum lease term requirements. I simply dont know who is right
As long as the conveyancer is on the Principality Building Society panel she or he must comply with the CML Handbook requirements for Principality Building Society. Unless your lawyer obtains specific confirmation in writing that Principality Building Society 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 Principality Building Society to contact your lawyer in writing confirming that they will accept the remaining number of years left on the lease.
I recently had an offer accepted on an apartment. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers I paid an upfront payment of 200. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me sheepishly admitting that they were not on the Principality Building Society conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Principality Building Society panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.
Sometime soon me and my wife are taking a long lease of a penthouse in Hendon. Conveyancing solicitors in Hendon need to beinstructed. My colleagueadvised that we enquire that the conveyancing practitioner in Hendon is on the Principality Building Society panel. Is this really necessary?
Not all Hendon conveyancing solicitors are on the Principality Building Society conveyancing panel. 5 people a month use our search tool to search for a Hendon conveyancing practitioner on the on the Principality Building Society approved list of lawyers.