Habito Conveyancing Lender Panel Compliance Tool

Lexsure’s COMPLETIONmonitor is an online pre- and post-completion checklist for residential conveyancing lawyers. Supported by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and professional indemnity insures. It is a unique risk management tool.

This software optimises the way you can prove to lender panels that you are, and can stay fully compliant with their instructions, with notifications given on Habito’s changes. While utilising COMPLETIONmonitor is not a condition for acceptance on the Habito panel, demonstrating you can stay up to date with Habito’s Handbook requirements is a helpful support to your panel application and, just as importantly, safeguard your panel standing.

COMPLETIONmonitor generates real-time alerts, automatically produces compliance 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 Habito

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

A Timeline of Policy Changes


Since 2008, Habito has made 1 revisions or additions to sections of their version of the CML Handbook.
That equates to a section change every 2730.0 days. In total, 0% of the sections of P2 of the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for Habito have been changed since 15/12/2008.

To find out more about lender panel compliance,

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Recent Changes Include

# Date Assoc. Changes Related To
5.14.1 07/10/2019 CML
Leasehold Conveyancing
Habito panel lawyers leasehold conveyancing requirements : minimum unexpired lease term

Last update 17/11/2019

Habito Conveyancing Panel : Questions and Answers from members of the public

I need to swap lawyers as my lawyer is not on the Habito panel of conveyancing solicitors. Is it advisable to appoint a new law firm?
If you haven't yet instructed a solicitor to do anything for you and have just received quotes, you're perfectly free to choose a different solicitor to carry out your work for you. The best way is to get recommendations from friends or family who have actually used the solicitor or conveyancer you're considering.
I am buying a newly constructed duplex and my conveyancer is advising me that she is duty bound to reveal incentives from the seller as her firm is on the Habito conveyancing panel. The Estate Agents are hassling me to exchange contracts and I dont want to delay matters. Is my lawyer right?
You should not exchange unless you have advised to do so by your lawyer. A precondition to being on the Habito approved panel is to comply with the CML Handbook requirements (last updated for this lender on Habito). The CML Conveyancing Handbook requires that your lawyer have the appropriate Disclosure of Incentive form completed by the developer and accepted by your lender.
I have been Googling for competitive conveyancing fees. Can I be sure that all the firms that are listed on your directory are on the Habito conveyancing panel?
The law firms listed on our site have advised us that they are on the Habito panel and agreed to advise us to take down their listing in the event of removal off of the Habito panel. To date we have not been informed by either a mortgage company or a member of the public that the data about a specific firm being on the Habito conveyancing panel is not accurate.
I was scheduled to move into my dream home last Thursday. My solicitor is on the Habito conveyancing panel but has moved offices in the past couple of months and had not advised Habito of their new address. Habito has locked down the release of mortgage funds until such time as their systems are up to date with the correct details.
This is as unusual as it is unlucky. Most lender Terms of Conveyancing Panel Appointment specifically oblige the solicitor to inform the lender of an address change. Your solicitor needs to treat this with the utmost urgency. Do speak with or register your concern with the senior partner (assuming he or she is not your direct lawyer). Most lenders would be reasonable in this situation and expedite the resolution of this issue. It may be prudent to enlist the help of your local Habito branch or your mortgage broker to see if they can help.
Can you point me to a directory of Habito panel solicitors on the Council of Mortgage Lender’s Website?
No. There is no such tool on the Council of Mortgage Lenders or Building Society Association websites. Very few lenders make their panel listings available online.
Do the majority of banks operate their own panel of solicitors?
Many lenders do operate a restricted conveyancing panel but a lot of lenders allow any solicitors to join their panel so long as they meet their criteria. Each lender sets their own criteria. For example the Habito conveyancing panel requirements are different to Habito’s conveyancing panel criteria.
After much negotiation I have agreed a price on an apartment. My financial adviser recommended their conveyancers I paid an upfront payment of 225. Soon after the conveyancers contacted me to say that they were not on the Habito conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?
You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the Habito panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.