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Ready to buy a new home? Failing to check that a lawyer is on the Sainsburys 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 Sainsburys Bank Conveyancing Panel? How can my firm be reinstated onto the Sainsburys Bank Conveyancing Panel?Find an Approved Solicitor on the Sainsburys Bank Conveyancing Panel
FAQs for the Sainsburys Bank Solicitor Panel
My fiance and I are first time buyers. Within the 48 hours our property lawyer has forwarded the sale agreement to sign with a detailed report in anticipation of exchanging contracts shortly. Sainsburys Bank have this afternoon contacted us to advise us that they have now hit a problem as our solicitor is not on their conveyancing panel. Is this a problem?
When purchasing a property with the benefit 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 Sainsburys Bank and see if they can apply for membership of the Sainsburys Bank conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Sainsburys Bank will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You are not legally obliged to appoint a law firm on the Sainsburys Bank conveyancing panel as you are at liberty to use your preferred lawyers, in which case your legal fees may increase, and it may delay matters as you have another set of people involved.
I am purchasing a new build flat and my solicitor is telling me that she has to reveal incentives from the seller as her firm is on the Sainsburys Bank conveyancing panel. I am under pressure to exchange and I dont want to prolong matters. is my lawyer taking the correct approach?
You should not exchange unless you have advised to do so by your lawyer. A precondition to being on the Sainsburys Bank approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Sainsburys Bank). The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
How do I search for a local solicitor on the Sainsburys Bank conveyancing panel? I have a car and am prepared to travel up to 25 miles to meet the solicitor.
Feel free to make use of the find a conveyancing panel search on this website. Please choose the lender and your location and you will see a number of lawyer located nearest you. Alternatively you can type in the name of your proposed law firm and see if they are listed as being on the Sainsburys Bank solicitor panel.
I am considering applying for a Sainsburys Bank mortgage for purchase of a newly converted (under development) with 70% loan to value. Is it compulsory to choose a solicitor on the conveyancing panel for Sainsburys Bank?
In theory, you could use a solicitor that is not on Sainsburys Bank conveyancing panel, but Sainsburys Bank would require one of their panel solicitors to be instructed to act in their interests, and you'd have to pay for this - so most people instruct a panel solicitor. It's also easier, as otherwise you'd have to deal with two solicitors for the same conveyancing matter.
When it comes to mortgage companies such as Sainsburys Bank do lawyers have to be pay a fee to be on the list of approved solicitors?
We are not aware of any lender fees to be on their panel although some do charge an administration charge to deal with the processing of the conveyancing panel application.
I was thinking of purchasing my friend’s property. Assuming we can agree a figure, what’s the best way to proceed? I plan to obtain a mortgage with Sainsburys Bank. Is there anyway to cut out the 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 Sainsburys Bank involved you will need to appoint a solicitor on the Sainsburys Bank 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 Sainsburys Bank. Feel free to use our search tool to look for a licensed conveyancer or solicitor on the Sainsburys Bank conveyancing panel.
Why might a lender such as Sainsburys Bank withdraw a mortgage offer?
Banks and Building Societies such as Sainsburys Bank can withdraw their mortgage offer although this rarely happens. should Sainsburys Bank withdraw their offer they may or may not inform you or the lawyer as to their reasoning. There are various possible reasons but here are 5 examples:
- If the borrower informs Sainsburys Bank of a change in security address
- A cashback to the buyer, or | part of the price includes a non-cash incentive to the buyer (eg paid stamp duty land tax),or | any indirect incentive (cash or non cash) or rental guarantee, of which the lender was previously unaware
- Where the purchase price and borrowers direct contribution differ to details on the mortgage application form completed by the borrower
- Where to proceed with the Mortgage offer would be unlawful
- Where the lender has to take account a recent change in law
Other Topics
Transfer of Equity for Sainsburys BankPlease note that Lexsure Ltd is in no way associated with nor affiliated with Lexsure Solicitors