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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 property lawyers should contact Bank of Scotland and see if they can apply for membership of the Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel, but if that is not viable Bank of Scotland will instruct their own lawyers to represent them. You don't have to instruct a firm on the Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel and you may continue to use your own solicitors, in which case it will likely add costs, and it will likely delay the transaction as you are adding another lawyer into the mix.

Anti-terror and anti-money-laundering rules require solicitors and licensed conveyancers to verify the identity of the person or body they are dealing with before they can accept their conveyancing business. The Terms and Conditions that you need to sign will no doubt confirm this. Your lawyer is right that Bank of Scotland also require certain documents to be viewed. If a you refuse to provide ID verification documents, your conveyancer would not be able to accept instructions from you. Your lawyer also has obligations to obtain certain documents in accordance with Bank of Scotland CML Handbook requirements last updated on Bank of Scotland

We are not in the business of recommending one firm above another as the right firm for you depends on where your priorities lie. For example you may require a local firm with local knowledge or you might be looking for the low cost conveyancing. We recommend that you speak to 3 or 4 lawyers listed before you make your choice..

The fact that your lawyer is on the Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel is a help. It would almost certainly delay matters if they were not. However, no conveyancer should guarantee a time-frame for your conveyancing due to third parties outside of our control such as delays caused by lenders,conveyancing search providers or by the other side’s solicitors. The time taken is often determined by the number of parties in a chain

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 Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel requirements are different to Bank of Scotland’s conveyancing panel requirements.

There is no definitive answer here. Have Bank of Scotland completed the valuation? Have you advised Bank of Scotland as your lawyers details and checked that your lawyer is on the Bank of Scotland conveyancing panel? It is not unusual for a mortgage offer to take a month to come through

Banks and Building Societies such as Bank of Scotland can withdraw their mortgage offer although this is unusual. In the unlikely event that Bank of Scotland 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:

• Where information comes to Bank of Scotland ‘s attention regarding the customers or the security that they were not aware of prior to offer that affects their original decision to lend

• If the borrower informs Bank of Scotland 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