Scottish Widows Conveyancing Panel Information

The Law Society of Scotland has suggested that solicitors should check their lender panel status prior to accepting client instructions to act. The advice is lender-agnostic as it does not relate specifically to solicitors on the Scottish Widows 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

When a solicitor is acting for both Scottish Widows and borrower there is potential for conflicts to arise. You owe duties to both clients. All information received by you from your client is confidential and cannot be disclosed without the client’s consent. In the situation you find yourself in if the purchaser will not consent to the information being passed on to the lender the solicitor must cease to act for the Scottish Widows and it may well be prudent you to cease to act for the purchaser as well. You can not tell the Scottish Widows the reason for termination of the retainer over and above the fact that a conflict has arisen. The fact that you can no longer act should alert even the most somnambulistic of lenders that something is wrong with the borrower and/or purchase. The fact that you have disinstructed yourself should not affect your Scottish Widows conveyancing panel status.

For most lenders participation on the lender's panel of conveyancers is at the absolute discretion of the the lender. Many lenders reserve the right to accept or reject any application without giving any reason. You should check your original application to join the Scottish Widows conveyancing panel to see if you are entitled to a reason.

In the circumstances please clarify on the form what action you have taken to discover the reasons behind cancellation of your Scottish Widows panel status. In particular please provide details if you have received communications from the lender. E.G. before termination of your panel membership did you receive any letters or calls from the lender informing you as to why they reached this decision?

You need to get in touch with Scottish Widows to obtain standard documents. The CML Handbook has a specific section for lenders to enumerate who to contact to obtain standard documents. Scottish Widows in their Part 2’s state: You will need to quote your Scottish Widows solicitors panel number.