It is is a decade since I bought my house in Llandaff. Conveyancing solicitors have just been instructed on the sale but I can't locate the title deeds. Will this jeopardise the sale?

Don’t worry too much. First there is a chance that the deeds will be kept by the mortgage company or they could still be with the solicitor who acted in the purchase. Secondly the chances are that the property will be recorded at the land registry and you will be able to establish that you own the property by your conveyancing lawyers acquiring current official copies of the land registers. The vast majority of conveyancing in Llandaff involves registered property but in the rare situation where your property is not registered it is more of a problem but is not insurmountable.

A friend recommended that if I am purchasing in Llandaff I should ask my conveyancer to carry out a Neighbourhood, Planning and Local Amenity Search. Can you explain what the purpose of this search is?

A search of this type is sometimes included in the estimate for your Llandaff conveyancing searches. It is a large document of more than thirty pages, listing and setting out significant information about Llandaff around the property and the people living there. It includes an Aerial Photograph, Planning Applications, Land Use, Mobile Phone Masts, Rights of Way, the local Housing Market, Council Tax Banding, the type of People living in the area, the dominant type of Housing, the Average Property Price, Crime details, Llandaff Education with maps and statistics, Local Amenities and other useful information concerning Llandaff.

I'm buying my first flat in Llandaff with a loan from Skipton Building Society. The builders would not reduce the price so I negotiated £7000 of extras instead. The sale representative suggested that I not inform my lawyer about the side-deal as it would adversely affect my mortgage with the lender. Do I keep my lawyer in the dark?.

All lenders require a Disclosure of Incentives Form from the builder of any new build, converted or renovated property, It is available online from the Lenders’ Handbook page on the CML website. CML form is completed and handed to the lender's surveyor when the inspection is done.

Lenders have different policies on incentives. Some accept none at all, cash or physical, while others will accept cash incentives up to 5%.

Hard to understand why the representative of a builder would be suggesting you withold information from a solicitor when all this will be clearly visible on forms the builder has to supply to its solicitor, the buyer's solicitor and the surveyor.

Yesterday I discovered that there is a flying freehold issue on a property I have offered on last month in what was supposed to be a simple, chain free conveyancing. Llandaff is the location of the property. Can you shed any light on this issue?

Flying freeholds in Llandaff are not the norm but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even though you don't necessarily need a conveyancing solicitor in Llandaff you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds diligently. Your bank may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Llandaff may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold property.

In what way does the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 affect my business offices in Llandaff and how can your lawyers assist?

The 1954 Act affords a safeguard to commercial leaseholders, giving them the legal entitlement to apply to court for a continuation of occupancy when the lease comes to an end. There are limited grounds that a landlord can refrain from granting a lease renewal and the rules are involved. We are happy to direct you to commercial conveyancing firms who use the act for protection and assist with commercial conveyancing in Llandaff