Handelsbanken Conveyancing Panel Information

The requirements to join the Handelsbanken conveyancing panel is likely to be fairly detailed and is unlikely to include signing up to LENDERmonitor alerts.

The Law Society of Scotland has advised that solicitors should check their panel status with lenders prior to accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Handelsbanken 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 Council of Mortgage Lender requirements of Handelsbanken are silent on this. Most lenders deal with the question of file retention via their Terms of panel appointment where they generally provide that for evidential purposes, the firm must keep the file for a minimum six years from the date of the mortgage. Data imagining is normally suitable compliance with this requirement. Many lenders point out in that it is the practice of some fraudsters to demand the conveyancing file on completion in order to destroy evidence that may later be used against them. It is therefore important to retain these documents to protect Handelsbanken’s interest. To be absolutely sure of Handelsbanken requirements in this regard please check the Terms and Conditions of Handelsbanken’s conveyancing panel acceptance.

With lenders and solicitors working so closely together it is surprising that there has not been greater demand for the introduction of a bit of transparency regarding not just the figures for the Handelsbanken conveyancing panel but for all bank panel listings

We would recommend that you provide details of the date of removal, information on the reason for removal, date of appeal and any reason given for reinstatement. This should not adversely impact your application but gives the CQS team viability as to what has gone on.

You would be advised to communicate with Handelsbanken to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook includes an explicit inquiry for banks to set out who to contact to obtain standard documents. Handelsbanken in their Part 2’s state: It is likely that you will need to disclose your Handelsbanken conveyancing panel number.