Britannia Conveyancing Panel Information

Criteria differ from lender to lender. We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the Britannia conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

Summary of annual accounts

Full complaints history for each licensed conveyancer

conveyancer client account(s) details

List of all solicitors within firm

Full disciplinary history for each licensed conveyancer

Whether the firm has ever knowingly accepted instructions on transactions involving Sale and Rent Back, Back to Back, Exchange and Delayed Completion and Lease Option, Below Market Value.

Whether the firm has ever accepted instructions in respect of property clubs and investment schemes

PII Cover details, including, if relevant, whether the firm is or has been in the assigned risks pool and structure of cover – basic

The percentage of the firm’s business which is conveyancing (broken down into sale

Full career history for each licensed conveyancer including registration date with Council of Licensed Conveyancers

The answer to this question really depends on the reason that your firm has been removed off the Britannia conveyancing panel. The top 3 reasons are as follows:

1. lack of transactions
2. the lawyer is a sole practitioner
3. as part of the HSBC panel reduction.

In these three circumstances it is unlikely that you would expected to take any action. Disclosure and other compliance considerations are more likely to be relevant if the reason for removal is due to breaches of lender requirements or allegations of fraud or negligence. Whether the reasoning should trigger a disclosable 'material' breach will depend on the firm and the circumstances around possible failures to comply with the SRA Authorisation Rules, and the SRA will judge each case on its own merits. Factors such as the detriment or risk of detriment to clients, the scale of the issue and overall impact on the firm will need to be considered in deciding whether a failure is 'material'. As the compliance officer you will need systems to identify patterns of breaches. Even if you don't consider there to be regulatory implications the firms COFA should give some thought to whether she/he needs to take any action as result of being removed from the Britannia conveyancing panel.

We would recommend that you provide details of the date of removal, information on the reason for removal, date of appeal and any reason given for reinstatement. This should not adversely impact your firm’s application but gives the Law Society viability as to what has happened.

You would be advised to communicate with Britannia to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook has an explicit question for banks to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Britannia in their Part 2’s state: Always remember to quote your Britannia solicitors panel reference.