Habito Conveyancing Panel Information

The Scottish Law Society has advised that solicitors should check their lender panel status before accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Habito conveyancing panel. The suggestion arises from the practice of a number of mortgage lenders who remove solicitors from their panels without prior notice as part of their panel management system, which can lead to some solicitors discovering this only once instructed. This is sensible advice as a client finding out midway through a transaction that their lawyer is not on the approved lender panel is very frustrating and can lead to complaints. Many online consumer forums contain posts where someone is complaining about finding that their lawyer is not on a lender conveyancing panel. Such forums include moneysavingexpert.com

The majority of lenders do not operate a specific buy to let conveyancing panel but we are hearing about a few that do. We do not know what the position is with Habito as at todays date. If you're about to receive instructions from a client on a buy to let purchase with a mortgage from Habito we suggest that you call Habito to check the position.

For most lenders participation on the lender's panel of conveyancers is at the absolute discretion of the the lender. Many lenders reserve the right to accept or reject any application without giving any reason. You should check your original application to join the Habito conveyancing panel to see if you are entitled to a reason.

CQS membership gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless the Council of Mortgage Lenders have indicated that it is likely to become a prerequisite for firms wishing to join their approved list of conveyancing solicitors. A number of Lenders now use the Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation as the starting point for Panel acceptance as is the case with Santander.

You need to communicate with Habito to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook incorporates an explicit question for banks to reveal who to contact to obtain standard documents. Habito in their Part 2’s state: It is likely that you will need to disclose your Habito conveyancing panel number.