Speaking at the CML Scotland Annual Conference today in Edinburgh, Smee offered the CML's support in helping to build a healthy Scottish housing market of the future but reiterated concerns about the separate representation.
He said: "We did not ask the Law Society of Scotland to change its rules and I can think of many reasons why this is the wrong way forward. I do not understand why mandatory separation is in consumers' interests.”
When a move to compulsory separate representation for lenders and buyers in all Scottish transactions was announced by the Law Society of Scotland in March, Smee said at the time: "It is disappointing that a measure which is so blatantly against consumer interests and will impose added costs and added scope for confusion and delay has been voted through, with not even the pretence of wider consultation.
"At a time when housing and mortgage markets are still recovering, this is a protectionist measure with little regard for the interests of consumers."
Last week the Law Society of Scotland also announced a review into residential conveyancing.
The 2013 CML Scotland Annual Conference was chaired by CML Scotland chairman, Iain Malloch, while the keynote address was delivered by Margaret Burgess, Scottish Government minister for housing and welfare.
