The rules we both agree to.

1. About us

The Home Panel is the trading name of The Home Panel Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. The Home Panel is an introducer — we are not a law firm and we do not provide legal services. We operate a curated panel of independent conveyancing firms, each authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), and refer your case to one of them.

2. Regulatory status

The Home Panel is not authorised or regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) or the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC). We are neither a law firm nor a licensed conveyancer. We operate as an introducer and do not provide any reserved legal activity.

The conveyancing work on your case is carried out by a firm on our panel. Every panel firm is authorised and regulated by either:

• the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) (for solicitors and SRA-authorised law firms), or
• the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) (for licensed conveyancing practices).

Both regulators set professional standards for property conveyancing in England and Wales, require minimum professional indemnity insurance, and operate their own complaints routes. You can verify any panel firm on the relevant public register. We will tell you in writing which panel firm has been assigned to your case — and which regulator oversees them — before you sign their client care letter.

3. Your agreement

By using our website, requesting a quote, or starting our onboarding process, you agree to these Terms & Conditions. If you do not agree, please do not use our services.

These Terms govern your relationship with The Home Panel only, covering quote generation, pre-instruction onboarding, identity and source-of-funds checks, and the referral of your case to a panel firm.

Your separate solicitor-client relationship is formed only with the panel firm, and only when:

• We have confirmed to you in writing which panel firm has been assigned; and
• You have returned a signed client care letter issued by that panel firm; and
• The panel firm has confirmed in writing that it is acting for you.

Nothing on our website, in a quote, or in our onboarding flow constitutes formal legal advice. Legal advice is provided by the panel firm only, once instructed.

4. Our services

The Home Panel provides the following services:

• Fixed-fee conveyancing quotes for purchases, sales, remortgages, and transfers of equity in England and Wales;
• Pre-instruction onboarding, including identity verification (via Credas), source-of-funds checks, and collection of key documents;
• Matching you to a suitable firm on our panel (regulated by the SRA or CLC), based on your transaction type, location, and any specific requirements;
• A client portal for tracking progress once your case is instructed.

We do not provide conveyancing or any other reserved legal service. Legal work on your case — including drafting, advising on contracts, exchanging, completing, and registration — is performed exclusively by the panel firm you are referred to.

We do not currently handle property transactions in Scotland (governed by separate law and LBTT rather than SDLT) or Northern Ireland.

5. Quotes and fees

Our quotes show a fixed fee for the conveyancing work, based on the information you give us at quote stage. This fee is charged by the panel firm assigned to your case, not by The Home Panel. It is the total legal fee you will pay for the work described.

The fixed fee may change only if:

• The information you gave us at quote stage was materially incorrect;
• The scope of the transaction changes (e.g. a freehold purchase becomes a leasehold purchase, a new build supplement applies, a gifted deposit requires additional verification); or
• Exceptional circumstances arise that could not reasonably have been anticipated.

Any fee change will be communicated to you in writing by the panel firm before the additional work is carried out, with an explanation and the revised total. You may choose to accept, decline, or seek a second opinion at that point.

VAT is charged at the prevailing UK rate (currently 20%) on the legal fees and shown separately in your quote.

6. Disbursements and Stamp Duty

“Disbursements” are amounts the panel firm pays to third parties on your behalf. They are passed through at cost, without markup.

• Searches (local authority, water & drainage, environmental), typically £250 to £450.
• Land Registry fees: set by HM Land Registry’s Scale 1, based on purchase price.
• CHAPS transfer fee: £45 per transfer.
• Bank transfer charges where applicable.
• Leasehold management pack fee (LPE1), where applicable, typically £200 to £500, set by your managing agent.

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)is a government tax payable directly to HMRC, not to us. Your solicitor will calculate and file your SDLT return; you’re responsible for the payment. SDLT amounts are not included in our quote.

7. If your transaction does not complete

Conveyancing fees are set by the panel firm you are referred to, not by The Home Panel. If your transaction does not complete (for example, your chain collapses, the seller withdraws, or the property is withdrawn from sale), the panel firm may charge an abort feeat their discretion. Whether and how much they charge depends on the work undertaken at the point the matter ends and the firm’s own fee policy.

The exact terms — including any abort or partial-completion fee — are set out in the client care letter issued to you by your assigned panel firm. You should read this carefully before instructing them, as it governs the commercial relationship between you and that firm.

Whatever the outcome, you remain responsible for any disbursements already paid on your behalf (searches, LPE1 packs, Land Registry priority searches, etc.). These are paid to third parties and are generally not refundable, even if the transaction does not complete.

The Home Panel is not a party to the engagement between you and the panel firm and does not collect, refund or vary any fee charged by the panel firm.

8. Your right to cancel (distance contracts)

Because you’re instructing us online without meeting in person, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give you a right to cancel within 14 days of signing our client care letter, without giving a reason.

To cancel, email us at info@thehomepanel.co.ukwith the subject “Cancellation”. We will acknowledge within 24 hours.

If you expressly ask us to start work on your matter before the 14-day period expires, you may still cancel, but you will owe a reasonable fee for the work completed up to the moment of cancellation. We will set this expectation in the client care letter.

9. Your obligations

You agree to:

• Provide accurate and complete information when we ask.
• Complete our identity and source-of-funds checks when requested.
• Respond promptly to requests from your solicitor to avoid delaying the transaction.
• Notify us immediately of any change in circumstance that affects the transaction (a change of mortgage, an unexpected loss of employment, separation, bereavement).
• Not use our platform to commit fraud, money laundering, or other unlawful activity.

10. Identity and AML checks

We complete initial identity verification and source-of-funds checks during our pre-instruction onboarding using Credas, an SRA-approved identity verification provider, so that your case file is ready the moment a panel firm is instructed.

You will be asked to submit government-issued ID and evidence of your funds (recent bank statements, gift letters, inheritance paperwork, or similar). We may share the results of these checks with your assigned panel firm so they can satisfy their own obligations under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017. Your panel firm remains responsible for completing any additional or periodic checks required under those Regulations as your matter progresses.

If we cannot verify you, or if we identify concerns during our checks, we may be required by law to decline to introduce you and, in some cases, to report the matter to the National Crime Agency. We may not be permitted to tell you if we do so.

11. Client money

The Home Panel does not hold client money. We do not operate a client account and we will never ask you to transfer your deposit, completion funds, or any other sum to us.

Client money (such as your deposit and completion funds) is held by your assigned panel firm in a client account operated in accordance with the SRA Accounts Rules, ring-fenced from the firm’s own operating funds. The panel firm’s engagement terms and Interest Policy set out how client money and any interest earned are handled.

Client money held by a panel firm is not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. In the unlikely event the firm’s bank fails, client funds would be subject to the bank’s normal insolvency regime.

Fraud warning. Bank account details for any transfer of funds should always be verified verbally with your panel firm over a trusted phone number. We and our panel firms neverchange bank details by email. If you receive an email appearing to change our bank details or a panel firm’s, treat it as fraudulent and contact the firm directly.

12. Referral fees and commissions

The Home Panel’s business model is to refer clients to SRA- or CLC-regulated conveyancing firms on our panel. Our panel firms pay us a fee for each case we introduce to them; this is how we fund the platform.

The referral fee is paid by the panel firm out of its own funds and does not increase the price you pay. The fixed fee quoted to you is the total cost of the legal work and is not marked up to account for our referral.

Under the SRA Code of Conduct for Firms (or the equivalent CLC Code of Conduct for CLC-regulated practices), your panel firm is required to disclose to you in writing, before you sign their client care letter, the fact that a referral fee is being paid to us and the amount or basis on which it is calculated. You will see this disclosure from the panel firm, not from us.

We may also receive commissions from third-party service providers we introduce you to (for example, surveyors, removal firms, or searches providers): [Disclose any such arrangements, OR state that none currently apply.]

13. Conflicts of interest

Each panel firm maintains conflict-of-interest procedures as required by its regulator (SRA Code of Conduct or CLC Code of Conduct as applicable), and carries out conflict checks before accepting any new instruction. If a conflict is identified by the panel firm we initially match you to, we will introduce you to an alternative firm on our panel.

We do not act for, or advise, either side of your transaction. Our role is limited to introducing you to a panel firm.

14. Insurance

Panel firms’ professional indemnity.Every firm on our panel is required, as a condition of SRA or CLC authorisation, to hold professional indemnity insurance meeting their regulator’s minimum terms (currently £3 million per claim under the SRA Minimum Terms, with equivalent prescribed cover under the CLC). Details of a specific panel firm’s insurer are available from that firm on request.

The Home Panel’s own insurance. The Home Panel holds commercial business insurance appropriate to our role as an introducer. Because we do not provide legal services, we do not hold SRA- or CLC-style professional indemnity insurance. Details of our insurer are available on request.

15. Intellectual property

All content on our website, including text, graphics, logos, software, and the overall design, is our property or that of our licensors and is protected by UK and international intellectual property laws. You may view, print, and download content for your own personal, non-commercial use. You may not reproduce, distribute, or use any content for commercial purposes without our prior written consent.

16. Limitation of liability

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for:

• Death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
• Fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation;
• Breach of the terms implied by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 that cannot lawfully be limited;
• Any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.

Subject to the above, our total aggregate liability to you arising out of or in connection with our services shall not exceed the greater of (i) the total fees you have paid to The Home Panel in the twelve months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or (ii) £25,000. This cap reflects our role as an introducer rather than a provider of legal services, and we consider it fair and reasonable for the purposes of section 62 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss, loss of profit, loss of opportunity, loss of reputation or loss of data.

No liability for panel firms’ acts or omissions.The Home Panel does not provide legal advice, draft documents, handle client money, or carry out any reserved legal activity. Legal responsibility for the conveyancing work on your case rests solely with the panel firm you are referred to. We accept no liability for any advice, action, omission, delay, error, or loss caused by or arising from a panel firm’s conduct of your matter — including any abort, partial-completion or other fee charged by the firm, any breach of the firm’s client care letter, or any regulatory breach by the firm. Claims of that kind must be brought against the panel firm directly, via the firm’s complaints procedure, the Legal Ombudsman, or the firm’s regulator (SRA or CLC) as appropriate.

17. Force majeure

Neither party shall be liable for delay or failure in performance caused by circumstances outside our reasonable control, including without limitation natural disasters, pandemic, war, terrorism, civil disturbance, industrial action, failure of telecommunications or power, or any governmental or regulatory action. We will notify you promptly and use reasonable efforts to minimise delay.

18. Termination

You may stop using our service at any time by notifying us in writing. We may terminate our engagement with you where:

• We are unable to verify your identity or the source of your funds;
• No panel firm on our panel can take on your case;
• You fail to respond within a reasonable time to requests during onboarding;
• You breach these Terms materially;
• We are required by law or regulation to do so.

Terminating your engagement with us does not automatically terminate your engagement with any panel firm already instructed on your case. To end the panel firm’s engagement, contact that firm directly; their client care letter sets out the applicable terms, including any fees payable on termination.

19. Complaints

Where you complain about depends on what went wrong:

• Complaints about The Home Panel’s service (our quote, onboarding, the matching process, our platform): contact us at info@thehomepanel.co.uk. We’ll acknowledge within 3 working days and respond in full within 8 weeks. Full procedure at thehomepanel.co.uk/complaints.
• Complaints about legal work (advice, drafting, exchange, completion, registration, fees charged by the panel firm): contact the panel firm directly. Each panel firm operates its own SRA-required complaints procedure. If you remain dissatisfied after the firm’s final response, you have the right to refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsmanwithin 6 months of the firm’s final response.
• Complaints about conduct (suspected dishonesty, breach of regulatory principles, discrimination): contact the panel firm’s regulator — the Solicitors Regulation Authority (sra.org.uk) for SRA-authorised firms, or the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (clc-uk.org) for CLC-authorised firms. Neither regulator regulates The Home Panel, so neither can investigate us.

20. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms and any dispute arising from them are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.

21. General provisions

Severability. If any clause of these terms is held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the remainder shall continue in full force.

Entire agreement. These terms, the client care letter, and our Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between us.

Assignment. You may not assign your rights under these terms without our written consent. We may assign to a successor in business.

Third-party rights. A person who is not a party to these terms has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce them.

Notices. Notices must be in writing and sent by email to info@thehomepanel.co.uk (for notices to us) or to the email you provided on registration (for notices to you).

22. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. The latest version will always be at thehomepanel.co.uk/terms with the last-updated date at the top. Material changes will be notified to active clients by email.

23. Contact

For any questions about these terms, please contact us:

The Home Panel Ltd
Flora, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5AB
Email: info@thehomepanel.co.uk