Britannia Conveyancing Lender Panel Compliance Tool

Lexsure’s COMPLETIONmonitor is an online pre- and post-completion checklist for property lawyers. Supported by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and PI insurers such as AmTrust. It is a unique risk mitigation tool.

This system optimises the way you can prove to lender panels that you are, and can stay fully compliant with their requirements, with automatic updates on Britannia’s changes. While utilising the tool is not a condition for acceptance on the Britannia panel, demonstrating you can remain up to date with Britannia’s Handbook requirements is a helpful support to your application to their lender panel and, just as importantly, safeguard your firm’s panel standing.

The software generates real-time alerts, automatically produces COLP and CQS reports, and will enhance your firm's efficiency. It is also simply to use, cost-effective and, for some firms, leads to reduced PII premiums.

Find a Law Firm approved by Britannia

Mortgage companies frequently vary their requirements. The UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook requirements from Britannia are not guidelines, they are instructions from a client. As with many clients, instructions can change - and they do change, over time:

A Timeline of Policy Changes


Since 2008, Britannia has made 494 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the CML Handbook.
That equates to a section change every 5.5 days. In total, 62% of the sections of P2 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Britannia have been changed since 15/12/2008.

To find out more about lender panel compliance,

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Common questions asked concerning the Britannia Solicitor Panel from members of the public

I appointed a law firm to work on my remortgage 4 weeks ago having applied for a mortgage with Britannia. The solicitors assured me that they are on Britannia conveyancing panel and provided me their panel number. Britannia then ,via my broker advised that their panel number was dormant and would need to be reactivated. What do I do from here? Should I appoint a new solicitor listed on the conveyancing panel for Britannia?
The answer depends on whether you still have confidence in the said solicitors and how long it will take for the firm to be reinstated on the Britannia conveyancing panel You may wish to enlist the help of your broker to check with the Britannia as to the time frame to get your lawyer reinstated on the panel once again.
Our conveyancer is asking me for ID documents stating that this is part of his requirements as a conveyancer on the Britannia Solicitor panel. Can this be correct?
Due to Money Laundering Regulations your conveyancing lawyer is duty bound to confirm positively your identification when entering into a business relationship with you. It is a criminal offense if your lawyer not do this. If you do not provide ID early in the transaction the solicitor must refuse to act for you. It’s unlikely a lawyer will turn you away if you come to the first meeting without relevant ID but you will have to produce it at some point so you might as well bring it with you to the initial meeting so the lawyer can tick the ID verification box and start sorting out the conveyancing straight away. If you are getting a mortgage with Britannia your lawyer also has to check ID documents to satisfy Britannia
I see that you have a post code search directory listing solicitors on the Britannia conveyancing panel. Do firms pay you a referral fee if I instruct them for my house purchase?
We are a listing service only for law firms wishing to communicate if they are on the Britannia conveyancing panel or other lender panels. We do not charge referral fees to the any conveyancer that you subsequently appoint.
The solicitors that just started acting on my house acquisition in Hendon has without warning shut down. They were on acting for me because I needed a firm on the Britannia conveyancing panel and my family lawyer was not. I paid them £200 on account. What are my options?
Assuming that you have an Estate Agent in the equation then inform them straight away so that they advise the vendors that there may be a slight delay due to the problems encountered. Most sellers would be sympathetic and urge their lawyer to send a new set of papers to your new solicitors. You will need to appoint new lawyers that are on the Britannia conveyancing panel and notify the lender. If you have paid over any money it will hopefully be held by the SRA as money in an intervened firm's bank accounts is transferred to the SRA. Then, the SRA or the intervention agent looks at the intervened firm's accounts to work out who the money belongs to. To claim your money you will need to contact the SRA. If the SRA cannot return money you are owed from the firm's bank accounts, or if they can only return part of the money, you can apply to the Compensation Fund for a grant. Your new lawyers may be able to help
We were going to get a DIP from Britannia this week so we know how much we could potentially offer as otherwise we only have online calculators to go by (which aren't taking into account credit checks etc).Do the Britannia recommend a solicitor on the Britannia conveyancing panel, or is it better to go independently
You will need to appoint solicitors independently although you'll need to choose one on the Britannia conveyancing panel. The solicitor represents both you and the Britannia through the process.
I was told four weeks ago that my mortgage has been agreed to by Britannia. Is it usual for Britannia to only issue the offer once my solicitor is approved on their conveyancing panel?
A lender would not issue a mortgage until they have details of a lawyer on their panel. It can take a few weeks for Britannia to deal with your lawyers application to be on the Britannia conveyancing panel. There's no guarantee that your solicitors will be accepted.
Britannia have agreed my mortgage in principle, my offer on house has been accepted, now what?
The estate agent will want to know who your solicitors are (make sure these solicitors are on the lenders panel). Call up Britannia or your broker and complete any relevant paperwork. Britannia will tell you what documents they want. Britannia will instruct a valuer. The valuer will get in touch with the estate agent or seller to book an appointment. Once conducted (assuming no problems) it takes about week to get a mortgage offer. Britannia will issue the offer to you and your lawyer. The transaction will then take it’s course according the nature and complexity of the conveyancing.