Whistletree Conveyancing Panel Information

This not something that the CML would traditionally get involved with although they do host numerous general legal related conferences which are attended by firms on the Whistletree conveyancing panel. Lexsure intend to run specific lender focused seminars in the coming months including a webinar on Whistletree’s Part 2 requirements. Practitioners on the Whistletree conveyancing panel are welcome. Information about the webinar will be made available as part of the LENDERmonitor P2 change Notifications.

The Law Society of Scotland has advised that solicitors should check their panel status with lenders before accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Whistletree 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 mumsnet.com

The concern here is if you are expect to enter into ‘more onerous’ conditions that than the Handbook obligations. You have to try and take an objective view as to whether the Terms relating to the Whistletree conveyancing appointment (or other terms for other lenders) are ‘more onerous’ than the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Conditions. Depending on the Terms you may need to provide details on your renewal form. If you are in any doubt please call your broker to discuss before moving forward on this question.

You should supply details of the date of removal, information on the reason for removal, date of appeal and any reason given for reinstatement. This should not negatively affect your firm’s application but gives the Law Society viability as to what has happened.

You would be advised to contact Whistletree to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook incorporates an express section for banks to reveal who to contact to obtain standard documents. Whistletree in their Part 2’s state: It is likely that you will need to quote the firm’s Whistletree solicitors panel reference.