Habito Conveyancing Panel Information

The Scottish Law Society has suggested 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 recommendation 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

Each lender has different criteria. We do not hold specific requirements relating to the questions raised as part of the application to be on the Habito conveyancing panel. Typically lenders need to have full knowledge of a firm including (but not limited to):

List of all those who can sign off the Certificate Of Title

Charge registration history

List of all those who fund the firm, including non-lawyers if applicable

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

Details of any accreditation e.g. Lexcel or

Structure of firm and, where applicable, its group

Automated alerting to inform lenders when there is a fundamental change to the firm (e.g. change of ownership)

Full career history for each solicitor including admission date to the relevant Law Society

Number of lender conveyancing panels the firm is currently on

House price discrepancies (declared to lender vs. registered at Land Registry)

One might ordinarily expect Habito via their Part 2 conditions to address this but the Handbook is silent on deadlines to send deeds. You need to look at the Terms of Habito’s Conveyancing Panel Appointment that you entered into. For many lender's these Terms contain a clause along the following lines: ‘To keep us informed of the reasons for any delay in your being able to send the title deeds and documents we require to us within 3 months of completion or evidence of proof of registration within that period. (We will send reminders if the deeds have not been received but will not acknowledge receipt of deeds’ It is important to keep Habito updated. Law firms can often compound their problems by not communicating with the lender when there is a delay or problem.

You need to be careful here as what you are intending may not be acceptable to the mortgage company. It is possible that you (as a non-panel firm) or the mortgage applicant are not at liberty instruct a panel firm of your choice. Lenders such as Nationwide BS make it clear to their panel firms that where a non-panel member firm is instructed by one of their mortgage applicants, the lender will appoint a panel firm to carry out its instructions and to liaise with the borrower's conveyancer. You also need to make the costs implications and potential for delay very clear to your client.

The Law Society’s CQS accreditation gives no guarantee to lender panel acceptance. Nevertheless the CML have indicated that it is likely to become a prerequisite for firms wishing to join their approved list of firms. Some mortgage companies now use the scheme as the starting point for Panel acceptance such as Santander.

You would be advised to get in touch with Habito to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook contains an express inquiry for lenders to reveal who to contact to obtain standard documents. Habito in their Part 2’s state: It helps to disclose the firm’s Habito solicitors panel number.